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When you smoke a lot of BBQ, you often have freezers full of extra BBQ. We pit hounds get creative with our leftovers. Here is a pizza that Alexis made this weekend that was loaded with smoked brisket and fire-roasted corn.
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| Smoked brisket, fire-roasted corn, red pepper, fresh tomato, mozzarella, cheddar, and a creamy salsa verde pizza sauce top this pizza that we cooked at 500°f on the Big Green Egg. |
The Dough
This pizza was hilariously thick because I don't listen well. Alexis used one of the pizza dough recipes that we typically use. But after she made and rested it, I divided it by 2 instead of as written for 3 pies. Oops. Still tasted great.
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| I started to throw my pie dough after watching our friends at Ship of Fools BBQ team do theirs for years. I'm not great at it, but the more I do it, the better I get. Funny how that works, right? |
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| That tool isn't a torture device; it is a pizza dough docker. It keeps the pizza dough from forming large air bubbles during the cooking. You can just jab the dough all over with a fork, but you know I like my kitchen toys. |
The Sauce
The sauce is actually an enchilada sauce made by putting our salsa verde in a cream sauce. When making enchiladas, we both thought it would make an amazing pizza sauce. We were correct. The recipe makes enough for 2-3 pizzas, depending on the size. For the salsa verde, we like to use our homemade version that you can find on GrillGirl.com.
Creamy Salsa Verde Enchilada Sauce
Makes 2 cups - enough for 1-2 pizzas or 12 enchiladas
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup half and half
- 3/4 cup thick salsa verde
- green chile rub or fajita seasoning to taste, about 1 1/2 teaspoons
Instructions
- Make a roux. Melt butter over medium heat and then whisk in the flour. Keep whisking until the flour is combined and the mixture smells nutty, about 1-2 minutes.
- Slowly add the half and half while continuously whisking. Bring to a simmer and allow it to cook until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes.
- Stir in the salsa verde. Start adding the seasoning in increments, taste, and adjust.
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| Making salsa verde on the Big Green Egg. |
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| Salsa done! Homemade salsa is typically thicker than storebought. So if you are going to use storebought, it might help to simmer it in a pot to thicken it first. |
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| We don't use a lot of sauce on our pizzas, so we could get 3 pies out of 1 batch of sauce. If you're a heavy sauce user, you'll probably only get 2. Also, if you're a heavy saucer, then you're a plate (that one is for my man, Ron Dimpflmaier. He'll appreciate that pun even if you heathens don't, ha ha). |
The Toppings
The toppings were straightforward -
- Smoked brisket
- Fire-roasted corn (butter-basted and seasoned with garlic salt during the cook)
- Red onion
- Diced Roma tomato
- Freshly shredded mozzarella
- Freshly shredded cheddar
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| Loading it all up. |
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| Oops, forgot to brush the crust with olive oil before saucing and topping. |
The Cook
I forgot to mention the grill setup. I used a large Big Green Egg and filled it with a Kick Ash Basket full of hardwood lump charcoal. I fired that up with a grill torch and put in a spider rig and heat stone for the heat deflection. I put the Adjustable Rig in with a rack on the 4th highest level and put a Big Green Egg pizza stone on top of that.
Usually, I aim for 7-9 minutes at 500°f, but this crust was so thick it took more like 15 minutes. I quit tracking the time after 9 minutes.
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| Give your grill plenty of time to preheat. It takes the ceramics longer to get hot than it does for the air temp to reach 500°f |
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| Just about ready to come off of the grill. I look for the bottom of the crust to be crispy and browned and all of the cheese to be melted. |
The Finish
To finish off this pie, we added crumbled queso fresco, chopped cilantro, and of course, Olde Virden's Red Hot Sprinkle.
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| A pizza peel makes easy work of moving the pizza around. This is my least favorite peel because it is a softer wood. I prefer a nice hardwood or metal peel because the pizza slides better IMO. |
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| Olde Virden's is the stuff. Made right here in Knoxville, it is a blend of 100% chiles - serrano, habanero, jalapeno, Thai chiles, and long cayenne. It is flavor and a complex heat that dances across your tongue. I don't mean dance like the waltz - I'm talking, booty-shakin', grinding-on-the-leg type of dancing. |
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| I had to tap out after only 2 pieces, as did Alexis. This is a full meal pizza, it fills you up quickly. |
