Pizza on the Grill!

Ahh spring is FINALLY here!! Along with the random bursts of amazingly nice weather we've had here in Baltimore recently, you know how I know when springtime has officially graced us with its presence? When asparagus starts popping up at the farmers' market (marking the start of the growing season, yesss!) and I have the sudden urge to be outside and grill everything. Both of these things hit me at once last weekend when I bought my first bunch of asparagus at the market and then had a spontaneous barbeque with my roommates on a gorgeous warm evening - amazing! I decided to try something that I had only ever seen Bobby Flay do on the Food Network and never tried myself, and that is: cook a pizza right on the grill! Who knew you could just oil up the dough, throw it right on the grill, cook for a few minutes on each side and then top with your favorite pizza toppings? So easy and brings pizza to a whole new level of deliciousness. I cheated a bit and used Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough and just kept my toppings simple and seasonal with mozzarella cheese and local mushrooms, scallions and asparagus. What could be better than sitting outside on a gorgeous spring night, grilling some food and sipping some cocktails with friends?

ASPARAGUS AND MUSHROOM PIZZA ON THE GRILL

Ingredients
Whole wheat pizza dough (store bought or make your own!)
Olive oil and a bit of flour for rolling out the dough
1 can of crushed organic tomatoes (or pizza sauce)
Shredded organic mozzarella cheese
Mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced thinly
Asparagus, washed and chopped
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
Salt/pepper and other herbs (basil, oregano)

Directions
1. Turn the grill on to medium-high.
2. Gather the sauce and cheese, and prepare your toppings so they are ready to go.
3. Roll out the dough using some flour until it's pretty thin; brush top side with some olive oil.
4. Throw it right on the grill with the oiled side down. Brush the top side with oil.
5. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until the bottom has some nice golden brown grill marks, then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
6. It's easiest to take the dough off the grill really quickly at this point to throw on your sauce, cheese and toppings. Once everything is on, put the pizza back on the grill and cook until the cheese is nice and brown and bubbly.
7. Carefully slide it off the grill, slice it up, serve it up, grab yourself a beer or cocktail and enjoy!