Serves: 4
If you’re not already having a love affair with the new Ironclad Grande Pan and Grill… the time is now! Treat yourself and the one you love to a pan of two halves this Valentine’s Day. And prepare to never ever order in pizza again.
Succulent grilled Piri-Piri chicken and smoked mozzarella cheese adorns one half of this pizza and for your vegetarian love? Salted courgette, lemon and goats cheese, of course.
The Grand Grill is the first star of the show. You’ll grill the red peppers and garlic to make the smokiest of sweet and spicy Piri Piri sauces, then grill the marinated chicken breast lightly on each side before cooking the pizza in The Grande Pan either in the oven or on your BBQ.
Just you wait until you get your teeth into that crunchy pizza base, smothered in grilled pepper sauce, melty cheese and succulent chicken or courgettes. It’s the stuff love stories are written about.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
** I have used hot smoked paprika in this recipe instead of whole fresh chilli. If you are a fresh chilli fiend replace each teaspoon of paprika with a chilli and throw those chillies on the grill too. If hot is not your thing, use sweet smoked paprika instead.
THE BASE
2 cups white flour – gluten free or not
¾ c warm water
1 T yeast
1 t sugar
¾ t salt
2 T olive oil
THE SAUCE
(Makes twice as much as you’ll need but it’s so good on everything)
3 whole red peppers
1 bulb garlic, sliced in half
2 bay leaves
¼ c olive oil
2 t hot or sweet smoked paprika
1 t sugar
2 t dried oregano
Juice half lemon
½ t salt
THE CHICKEN
2 free range chicken breasts
2 t hot or sweet smoked paprika
2 t dried oregano
1 t salt
Olive oil spray
THE COURGETTE
2 medium courgettes, sliced 4mm thick
2 cloves garlic minced
½ t salt
Zest ½ lemon
TO ASSEMBLE
150 g smoked cheddar
150 g grated mozzarella
100 g goats’ cheese
Zest of one lemon
Salt to finish
TO SERVE
Fresh herbs of your choice
Black Pepper
To make the dough, mix all ingredients together until a shaggy dough forms and leave for an hour in a warm place till double in size. If it’s a super-hot day, this may take less time.
Turn the dough onto a floured bench and add a little more flour if required to create a soft pliable dough that doesn’t stick to the bench. Knead lightly for 5 minutes. Leave to rest lightly oiled and covered till ready to assemble the pizza.
To make the Piri Piri Sauce heat your Grande Grill to super-hot. Spray red peppers and garlic with olive oil and blacken on the grill. Turn every minute or so. The idea here is to hastily blacken the skin without over cooking the red pepper. When fully blackened pop the peppers and garlic in a bowl, cover and leave till cool.
When cool removes the skins of the peppers. They should just slip off.
Put half the grilled, skinless peppers in a high-speed blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients and pulse till just combined.
Roughly chop remaining half of the red pepper and add to the puree.
To marinade the chicken, massage the ingredients into the chicken breasts and leave to marinade for up to 24 hours. If you haven’t got time to marinade them that’s all good too!
Heat the Grande Grill to smoking hot and spray the chicken breasts in olive oil. Grill each breast for 2 minutes a side. Remove from grill to a plate and let rest till cool enough to handle. Slice into chunky slices if you like your chicken chunky or thinner slices if not! The chicken should still be rare in the middle as it will finish cooking when the pizza cooks.
To prepare the courgettes, mix all the ingredients and let drain in a sieve for half an hour. Dry off with paper towels. By salting then drying the courgettes you will remove excess moisture and ensure no soggy pizza bottom.
To assemble the pizza, lightly spray the bottom of the Grande Pan with olive oil and place the ball of dough in the middle of the pan. Using your hands, push the dough evenly to the edge of the pan.
Heat oven or BBQ to 220°C.
Dollop half the Piri Piri sauce onto the base and spread evenly.
Sprinkle nearly all the smoked cheese and mozzarella over the top of the sauce, reserving half a cup for the finishing touch.
On one side arrange courgettes and goats’ cheese and on the other the grilled sliced chicken, leaving a 1cm border. Finish with the remaining cheese and grated zest of lemon.
Bake the pizza for 15 – 20 minutes till base is crispy and top is sizzling and bubbling. If you’re cooking it on the BBQ, make sure you have the lid closed as it cooks.
To serve, scatter with heaps of black pepper and fresh herbs of your choice. We used fresh oregano and basil. Remove pizza from pan.
Slice. Eat. Love.
And. If you ever get the chance to eat roadside Piri Piri Chicken in Portugal. Do it. It’ll change your taste buds. And your life.
