The Desert Dish

I have to admit cooking on my day off is not on the top of my priorities, especially when I don't have any help. So when my brother Kris and good friend Chef Mark Rigano (Chef of Toscana Country Club) and I got together we decided to have an unusual BBQ in my backyard.

We decided to spark up my wood burning pizza oven that has been collecting dust all summer. Mark having a strong background in Italian food was in charge of making his secret pizza dough recipe and getting all the condiments he was going to use, while I started the fire, filled the coolers and made the phone calls to friends. It was very easy to fill up my backyard with friends once they knew two chef's were in the kitchen.

Mark showed up with his dough all ready to cut and roll. I tried to get his super secret dough recipe but had no luck, the only thing I go out of him was "ferment the dough slow". By Mark not adding so much yeast and letting the dough rise slow he ended up with a thin crust that had great texture and flavor.

Once all the fixings were cut and in hands reach the BBQ started! By the time the kitchen closed we counted at least 30 pizzas have been created. Everyone had a great time creating there own pizzas, a few of the creations were:

BBQ Chicken with Red Onion, Blue Cheese and cilantro
Pepperoni, Sopressata, Sweet Peppers, Italian Parsley and Parmesan
Smoked Salmon with Dill, Provelone and Goat Cheese
Chicken with Mushrooms, Parmesan and Alfredo Sauce
Pepperoni, Sausage and Tuscan Pepper Calzone

The BBQ was fun and we will be having another one soon. The only thing we forgot was who's in charge of clean up?

Brett Maddock