BBQ Pizza

Grilled Pizza and Beer

The Dish: BBQ Pizza
The Drink: Ice Cold Beer
The Attempt: Beat the Heat

In the middle of a rare heat wave in this city, I looked am always looking for things to cook outside without adding any additional heat to the kitchen.

This Pizza dough cooks right on the BBQ and then you can put just about anything you want on it.

The Dough:
1 Cup Flour
1/4 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Olive Oil
1/3 Cup Warm Water
1 Tsp Dry Active Yeast

Start by putting the yeast in the warm water.  Mix the flour, sugar, salt and oil and then add the yeast/water. Kneed together into a ball until its a uniform consistency and then let it rest for an hour and a half.

Initial cooking of the dough

Preheat the BBQ while you stretch out the dough.  I obviously didn't do a great job of making it round, but what are you going to do?
Make sure that the grill top is well oiled so that the dough will not stick. 
I found it worked best to cook the dough a little on one side, add the toppings to the cooked side. Add the toppings and then cook fully.  The dough can be cooked over direct medium heat.

Tomato, Bocconcini, Basil

 
Its pizza, so you can out just about anything you want on it.

My Choice of Toppings:
Pesto Sauce
Tomato
Bocconcini
Fresh Basil

And of course, nothing goes better with pizza on a hot day than a cold beer.

Jalepeno Chicken Burgers

Jalapeno Chicken Burger

The Meal: BBQ Chicken Jalepeno Burgers
The Drink: Rum and Diet Coke
The Soundtrack: Party Playlist

With my buddy visiting town for the Stampede, the first couple days have taken us all around the city. Squash, cowboy gear shopping, Sushi lunch, Downtown Tour, Ranchman's Party, Cowboys Casino, Stampede Breakfast, Rodeo, Stampede and Beer Gardens, each coming with their own lineups and over inflated Stampede costs!  The plan for Saturday night was therefore to stay in, BBQ and have a bon fire.
No lineups and no greasy foods at home!

As detailed here, we had lunch at the fair grounds after the Rodeo in the mid afternoon so there was no chance of being hungry at a reasonable hour for dinner.  To start the evening, we fired up a few upbeat tunes and had a few drinks.

The Burgers:
1lb Ground Chicken
1 Egg
Breadcrumbs
2 Jalapenos Diced
1/2 White Onion Diced
1 Clove Garlic
Fresh Cilantro

Sweet Grilling Action

Mix all the ingredients together and form into four patties.  Let them sit for an hour or two in the fridge while you take the time to enjoy a few more drinks.

Fire up the grill and once its good and hot, slap them on.
Since its ground chicken, you'll have to make sure they are cooked all the way through. Butj don't over do them since they will dry out.

Garnish appropriately.

Classic Stampede Food

The Meal: Corn Dogs and Mini Donuts
The Event: The 100th Anniversary Calgary Stampede
The Drink: Expensive Canned beer

Deep Fried Goodness

After watching the Rodeo we decided to grab some deep fried fairground grub. 
The classic of all fair foods is the corndog.  Delicious, on a stick and deep fried, it fits all of the bills.

Greatest Snack Ever

Some of the other foods on offer include poutine, various pizzas, new items served on a stick, and just about anything out of a fryer. Hot Beef Sundaes, Deep Fried Oreos, Tacos in a bag, there are no limit to the options.


We hit the beer tent for a few Buds (they sponsor the event and that's about the only option). Does beer taste better when you have to wait in line 25 minutes in the hot sun to buy it?  It probably wasn't a coincidence.

On the way out we grabbed mini donuts since Sam had never tried them before. 

Not something I've made, but still worth noting.

Blue Marlin and Dookie

Blue Marlin, Mashed Potatoes and Grill Veggies

The Meal: Blue Marlin and Grill Vegetables
The Soundtrack: Green Day - Dookie
The Drink: Rum and Coke

All By Myself - The night had started out as a leisurely evening with a plan for some grilled fish and some tunes.  While at the store procuring my provisions for the evening, I ran into some friends that invited me out for the evening.  Since we were meeting for drinks beforehand I needed to be a lot quicker with my meal than expected.

Classic 90's Album

 
Welcome to Paradise - I still had time to get through the entire album since Dookie is less than 40 minutes long.  This is typical for the alternative rock albums of its day.  There isn't a song even close to 4 minutes long and there are several less than 2.  Create a cool rif, complain about society, end song.  Its an easy formula to sell millions of albums!  So long as the 2.5 minute songs you create are really good I guess... Who was born in the late 70's/early 80's and doesn't know all the lyrics to Basket Case?

When I come Around - I stopped at the fish store to try something new for a change.  I saw they had some fresh Blue Marlin.  'Is that like the Ahi?' I ask? 
"Its more 'steaky' like the swordfish" says the fishmonger, "and you should cook it to a medium at least."  With fish described as 'steaky' how can you not instantly buy a giant slab for your dinner?

Ingredients

Having a Blast - I coated it up with some olive oil, salt and pepper and chucked it on a hot grill with some seasoned vegetables.  I typically use Zucchini and tomatoes.  I happened to have a carrot on hand so I grilled that up too.  Not my favourite, but it worked.  And since I am a man who loves his carbs, I also whipped up a potato. Nothing special.  Just mashed it up with a little butter and then tossed in a sprig of Rosemary to make it look cute in the picture.  No rosemary was harmed in the making of this dinner.

In the End - It was a very enjoyable and delicious experience to try Marlin.  I'll definitely do it again.
Now its off to hit the town and get my groove on to some slightly newer material! Hopefully not a Basket Case tomorrow!