Charcoal Grilled Pizza with Goat Cheese and Shallots

We have fun experimenting with different pizza combinations at home.  We’ve done the pizza stone in the oven which produces really good results, but the closest to authentic east coast, brick oven style, in my opinion, is pizza from the grill. This works really well and is pretty easy.

Your best bet is to work on a large charcoal grill. Move all the coals to one side so you’re flaming hot for direct grilling and you’re also set up for indirect baking on the other side. See Steve Rachlan’s “How To Grill” for more detailed instructions. Our copy has a broken spine and pages falling out we’ve used it so often.

You can make your own dough if so inclined or frozen pizza dough works just fine. Roll it out thin and at the last minute brush some olive oil over your grates. Lay the pizza dough on the grates and stay put. This won’t take long and its easy to burn (a little char is good for the New Haven pizza quality). Watch for bubbles and then flip.

Once your crust is grilled on both sides add your toppings and bake on the other side of the grill. If you’re grill is not large enough, we’ve done this step under the broiler. You’re really just trying to melt cheese and warm toppings.

We’ve had a lot of fun with seasonal toppings and we’ve had success with everything from cheddar cheese to apples to grilled corn.

We topped this pizza with a little mozzarella, goat cheese, sautéed shallots and garlic and then fresh thyme at the end. The standout ingredient among all these bold flavors was the thyme. This was delicious and definitely a keeper.