Grilled White Pizza with Ricotta, Corn, & Broccoli

This has been such a crazy/fun/stressful/packed week so far…and it’s only Wednesday.

Our kitchen/house renovations are scheduled to wrap up during the next couple days (with a few lingering small projects taking place in the coming weeks), my husband and I have been attending childbirth/delivery classes in the evenings (that’s a whole discussion for another time, haha), AND I have two baby showers being thrown in my honor this week. One of which is at my home on Sunday afternoon (hosted by my mom and mother in law)…just a couple days after construction wraps. Needless to say, we’ve been running around like crazy all week, and Sunday evening can’t come soon enough!

Today, my office coworkers threw me the first of the baby showers complete with an impressive spread of food and generous, thoughtful gifts for our baby boy. So sweet. It makes me take pause and remember how kind people can be. It also makes me take pause about the fact that the baby is coming in a month and a half. OMG. Fastest pregnancy ever. I guess that could be a good thing? We’ve just been so DISTRACTED by everything else going on with our house/jobs/etc that it hasn’t fully set in that we’re going to be parents in the very near future. I know I’ve talked about this before, but it really is kind of a mind trip.

During busy/stressful/exciting times like this, it’s best to have easy meals that come together quickly. Enter grilled pizza. It had been on my list to try for months and months, and I finally made it a priority last week.

This grilled pizza is topped with grilled corn, broccoli, and pillowy dollops of ricotta cheese. Plus two other kinds of cheese. Necessary. Not only does the pizza cook quickly on the grill, but it doesn’t require you to crank up your oven as high as it goes in the middle of summer. It still TASTES like fantastic oven pizza, but with a chewy, smoky, charred thing going on (which is absolutely awesome). I, like most (all?) people, am not big on burnt bread…but give me charred bread/dough/crust from the grill, and I’m a happy gal.

My husband and I hovered over this pizza as it cooked, and as soon as I was done snapping the pictures, we DEVOURED it. We had ourselves a good, home cooked meal enjoyed together amidst all the craziness. Easy (but delicious!) meals like this one remind me to take a step back sometimes and just enjoy the moment. It’s hard to do when things are so hectic, but I always feel so much better when I do.

Feeling thankful. Funny how food can have that effect, huh?

 

 

Grilled White Pizza with Ricotta, Corn, & Broccoli       (makes 4 servings)

2 ears of corn, husks removed

Olive oil

Pizza dough (store bought or homemade)

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 cup broccoli florets, chopped

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese

¼ cup grated pecorino cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

 

1. Preheat the grill to medium-high and liberally oil the ears of corn. Season with salt and pepper and place on the hot grill. Cook, turning frequently, until the corn is tender and charred in spots. Remove from grill, allow to cool slightly, and then cut the kernels from the cobs.

2. Increase the grill temperature to high. Roll out the dough to desired shape and thickness (the thinner the better) and brush one side liberally with olive oil. Carefully transfer the dough to the hot grill, placing it directly on the grill grate (I kind of draped it over my hands and spread it out on the grill that way. I’m sure you could use a pizza peel or baking sheet to do the same thing, though). Close the lid to the grill and cook on the first side for 2-3 minutes, or until golden and charred. Brush the top side with olive oil and flip over.

3. Immediately brush the grilled side with a little more oil and then evenly distribute the minced garlic and chopped thyme over top. Working quickly, layer the mozzarella, broccoli, and grilled corn evenly over the crust. Dollop the ricotta cheese randomly over the top of the pizza. Season with salt and pepper and then top with the grated pecorino cheese.

4. Close the lid of the grill and cook for about 5-7 minutes, rotating the pizza once about halfway through (all grills are different so I would check on it every couple minutes). The pizza is done when the cheese is melted and the pizza dough is crispy/charred on the bottom and cooked through. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and then slice and serve.

 

Cooking Note: This pizza comes together VERY quickly, so I found that it was best to have all my toppings ready to go BEFORE putting the dough on the grill. The last thing you want is to ruin that delicious crust because you’re running around trying to cut corn off the cob and shred some cheese. Get everything ready before getting started!