Shrimp and Pesto Pizza
If you have ever wondered how to cook a pizza on the grill with a pizza stone, then you have come to the right place. It is very easy to do and perfect for the summer.
It is day two – yeah!!
Yesterday I revealed my first recipe for the Ontario Gas BBQ (OGB) Challenge – Grilled Sicilian Swordfish with Smoker Box.
Over the course of this week, I will be revealing the five recipes I submitted for the competition.
If you want to read up on the competition you can find it here.
After all the recipes have been revealed one recipe from each of us will be chosen by the Ontario Gas BBQ judging Panel. Then, throughout the month of July, anyone can vote on which recipe they think is best. I will be calling on my family, friends and readers to head over to the website and vote for my dish. That includes you! Along with supporting me with your vote, there are also prizes available to you. Each week during the month of July, a $100 gift card will be awarded to one lucky voter.
Each recipe is made with a grilling accessory that the World’s Largest BBQ Store, Ontario Gas BBQ sent me to use. Well, today’s was an easy one for me to build a recipe around – a pizza stone.
Homemade pizza is a regular part of our meal rotation and I make it close to once a week. During the winter months, I bake the pizza in the oven in our kitchen, but once the weather warms up, I take the pizza making to our back deck. By placing a pizza stone on the grill, it is quickly turned into a pizza oven. If you have never used a pizza stone for making pizza, you have no idea what you are missing. The stone creates a wonderfully crisp crust that cannot be replicated using a steel cookie sheet.
How to Make a Shrimp Pesto Pizza
For each grilling accessory I am sent, there is also a protein and culinary style I am to use in preparing the dish. The pizza stone was the only accessory where I was given the freedom to pick the protein of my choice, but the culinary style was Mediterranean. This was quite open ended as there are many different regions that make up the Mediterranean: Italian, Egyptian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Lebanese and more! This was easy though, as we love the cuisine from this region. For the protein, I decided to use shrimp and I added some pesto, red onions, grape tomatoes, and feta cheese, for a truly Mediterranean dish.
It is important to preheat the grill with the pizza stone on it, which means that the pizza needs to be slid onto the stone. A pizza peel is the easiest way to do that, and covering the peel with corn meal helps the pizza slide onto the stone smoothly and easily.
For this recipe, I did not cook the shrimp ahead. Since shrimp cooks up so quickly and the texture is ruined if overcooked, I figured that there would be plenty of time for the shrimp to cook while on the grill.
How to use a Pizza Stone on a Grill
The pizza stone works really well to create an excellent crust on the pizza, but it is very important to keep the lid down during the baking process. In the same way that you would not keep opening the oven door, you cannot keep lifting up the grill lid. That would let all the heat escape and would result in the crust of the pizza burning before the top gets fully cooked. Keep the lid down and trust that it is working. Take a peek rarely and make sure it is quick.
This pizza came out so well and tasted amazing. The shrimp was plump, perfectly cooked and was complimented with the flavors of pesto and feta. I will definitely be making this pizza again! If you ever wondered how to cook a pizza on a grill, then this is a great recipe to try first!
Grilled Shrimp and Pesto Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 ball pizza dough (8oz/225g)
- 2 tbsp corn meal
- 4 tbsp pesto
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 10-12 raw shrimp peeled and deveined
- 4-5 grape tomatoes halved
- ¼ cup sliced red onions
- ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Place pizza stone on grill grates and heat grill, with the lid closed, to a temperature around 400-425F.
- Sprinkle the corn meal on a pizza peel, cutting board or parchment paper.
- Shape dough into a round 10” pizza crust and place on the pizza peel, cutting board or parchment paper. The corn meal will allow the pizza to transfer onto the pizza stone smoothly.
- Spread the pesto evenly on the pizza dough and sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top of the pesto.
- Top the pizza with shrimp, tomatoes, onions, and crumbled feta cheese.
- Slide the pizza onto the pizza stone carefully. Close the lid and let the pizza bake on the grill for 15-20 minutes. The crust should be browned along the edges and the mozzarella cheese should be melted and bubbly.
- Lift the pizza off the stone and let it rest on a cutting board for 5 minutes.
- Cut it into 8 pizza slices and serve.
Disclosure: I received the pizza stone and monetary compensation for the development of this recipe.
