You say "grilled flatbread" ... I say "pizza"
I realize that our society is hung up on words and phrases, but I don't understand it. Somehow, we've transcended to a plane where you can rename a common thing and we'll willingly, lemming-like, accept it as the greatest new invention since sliced ... well ... anything.
Case in point: Patagonian Toothfish. The name alone is as unappetizing as a toothpaste sandwich. It paints a mental picture of of a cross between Flipper, Shamoo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Jeff Dunham's Bubba J. But, with a flurry of penmanship, the name morphs into "Chilean Seabass", which is now Seafood Watch's overfished list. Has the fish changed? No. Has it gained additional, magical flavor? No. It's just gotten a "media makeover" and people have gone gonzo over it. I'm not blaming Americans as the exclusive reason this is happening, in Japan it's called "mero" and is incredibly expensive.
Where am I going with this? In a word: names. I've seen it happen in restaurants over the past couple years, where what we used to call "pizza" is now being labeled as "grilled flatbread". Is it new? No. Is it different? No. It's a flat piece of dough with toppings. It's flipping pizza. Call it "farinata", "cecina", "tarte flambée", "Lahmacun", "pissaladiere", "calzone" or "stromboli" it all boils down to the same thing: dough with toppings. Period.
Sorry for the rant. George Carlin passed away last week, and I've been a student of his analysis of language for years, so I get a bit carried away. What I'm trying to say is this: doesn't matter what you call it, it's a basic recipe that you can adapt to whatever you wish to top a slice of bread with.
So enough of the rant, let's get topping! If you've been following my adventures, you know I've got BBQ coming out of my ears, and have been having fun getting "BB-creative" with smoked meat in recipes. Tonight it's a simple dish (I'm lazy, I'm tired, and I don't want to waste time, shoot me): BBQ Pizza.
BBQ Pizza
This can be done on the grill or in your oven. For the grill, get the coals going and set up the grill for "dual-zones" (a hot zone and a cool zone). For the oven, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (the hotter, the better).
Take a Boboli prepared pizza crust (or, alternatively, you can us pita bread or something similar, for smaller "personal" pizzas) and brush with olive oil.
Sprinkle over the crust the ingredients:
- BBQ chopped or shredded pork (or brisket, each works well)
- BBQ Sauce (drizzle over the meat, less coverage than what you'd do with a marinara)
- shredded mozzarella cheese
Place the pizza on the cold size of the grill or in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or less (depends on the heat of your grill/oven). You're looking for a golden brown crust and melted cheese.
If you use the Boboli small crusts, you can let each guest create their own pizzas and vary the toppings. Easy party food, since you don't have to cook it (the guests do the work and they love the participation factor).
