Sunshine State of Mind Pizza

Sunshine State of Mind Pizza

Tranquil beaches with warm ocean breezes and soft sand, it’s always grilling season in Florida… This grilled pizza has all your favorite Florida flavors fresh-squeezed Orange juice and Tupelo honey plus a smoky aroma that will have your family and friends begging for more. 

Paired with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, it’s perfect for a beach picnic or backyard pool party.

INGREDIENTS 

Pizza Dough

• 2 cups “00” flour 
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 packet of Active Dry Yeast
• 1 tsp Fine Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp Granulated Sugar
• 1 tablespoon EVOO

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon EVOO
• 1 medium shallot, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼  teaspoon red pepper flakes 
• ¼  cup freshly squeezed Orange juice
• ¼ cup Tupelo Honey
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 2 tablespoon Sauvignon Blanc
• ¼ teaspoon salt 
• Dash of pepper

Toppings

• 4 oz goat cheese
• 1 cup arugula
• 4 slices thinly sliced prosciutto
• 1 teaspoon orange zest

INSTRUCTIONS 

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the water, the yeast and sugar, let it sit for 5 minutes. Then pour it into the flour mixture. Knead with your hands until well combined, adding flour as needed to make smooth dough, approximately 5 minutes. Pour a small amount of EVOO into a large bowl and coat the bottom and sides. Add the dough, turning to coat. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. Remove ball, knead and form a new ball of dough, cover with towel and let rest for additional 30 minutes. 

In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of EVOO medium heat. Sauté the shallot garlic and red pepper flakes until softened. Add honey, orange zest and juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper. Simmer, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the wine, stir and simmer for 5 more minutes. 

Prepare a small bowl with olive oil for greasing the grill grates and for brushing the pizza.

Once the grill is hot, dip a tightly folded up paper towel in olive oil and use tongs to wipe the grill grates. Then place a pizza dough round on a lightly 00 floured pizza peel. Let the dough slide onto the hot grill grates. Close the lid of the grill and let cook for 2 minutes.

Once the pizza dough has browned lightly on one side, use your cookie sheet or pizza peel to remove it from the grill. Use a spatula to flip the dough over so that the grilled side is now up. Brush the honey orange sauce onto the grilled surface of the pizza, then top with dollops of goat cheese and slices of prosciutto. If you are using a gas grill, reduce the heat. If working with a charcoal grill, close the vents on the cover almost all the way. Close the lid and cook for 2-3 minutes more, or until the bottom begins to char.

Pull off the grate with a spatula onto a cutting board or other flat surface and let rest for a couple minutes before cutting into slices. Top with a handful of arugula and drizzle of the remaining sauce. Slice and serve!

Oven Method

If using the oven, Preheat the oven an hour before making pizza. 

450°F to 500 °F degrees.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the crust is browned. Remove from the oven and top with arugula and orange zest. Drizzle with remaining honey orange sauce.

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Peach & Blueberry Cake

After picking blueberries and peaches at Southern Hill Farms this weekend, I was inspired to make this delicious and beautiful Peach and Blueberry Cake!

This cake screams summer fruit! And you can easily switch out the fruit and make it a year-round dessert.

The combination of the peaches and blueberries is amazing. The natural sugars in the fruit enhance the flavor. The crust is almost biscuit-like and has a rich buttery flavor. 

Enjoy the summer weekend and this scrumptious summer cake!

Check out Southern Hills Farm!

INGREDIENTS

For pastry

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For filling

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ½  tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 lb firm-ripe large peaches (about 4), halved lengthwise, pitted, and each half cut lengthwise into fourths
• 1 cup blueberries (1/2 pint)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Make pastry:

Pulse together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add egg and vanilla and pulse just until dough clumps and begins to form a ball, about 15 pulses.

Press dough onto bottom and evenly (about 1/4 inch thick) all the way up side of springform pan with floured fingertips. Chill pastry in pan until firm, about 10 minutes.

Make filling while pastry chills:

Put the oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 375°F.

Generously butter the inside of your springform pan.

Grind 2 tablespoons sugar with flour and cornstarch in a food processor until combined, then transfer to a large bowl. 

Add peaches, blueberries, and lemon juice and sprinkle 6 tablespoons over the top, toss to coat. 

Spoon filling into pastry and bake, loosely covered with a sheet of foil and cover the bottom of the pan with foil, until filling is bubbling in center and crust is golden, about 1 3/4 hours.

Transfer cake in pan to a rack and cool, uncovered, 20 minutes, then carefully remove side of pan.

Cool cake to barely warm or room temperature, then cut into thick wedges with a sharp knife before serving.

Tip:

I recommend using light-colored metal pans for baking. Dark metal pans, including nonstick, will cause your baked goods to brown more quickly. If you don’t have a light-colored pan, wrap the bottom of your pan with foil and lower the heat to 350 degrees F. 

Citrus Sazon Beer Can Chicken

Beer can chicken is the best, easiest way to cook a whole chicken on the grill without any special equipment. The beer from the can steams the chicken, resulting in a perfectly-cooked and moist whole chicken. The chicken literally sits on the can and as the beer heats up, it streams and flavours the inside of the chicken. 

I start with marinating the chicken with  Sazon seasoning, vinegar, and stuffing lemon, lime and orange wedges inside the chicken overnight. 

Sazon is like the magic spice blend in many Latin dishes. It’s commonly found in the supermarket in small envelopes that you add to stews, beans, rice, etc. It gives yellow rice that yellow color and basically makes anything taste good! Goya is the most popular brand. If you can not find Sazon you can make your own, the recipe is at the bottom of this blog page. 

Next comes choosing the beer! 

Beer can chicken requires beer in a can. However, that doesn’t mean you have to buy canned beer. All you need is a can. I personally prefer to use an old soup can that I have cleaned and saved. Which opens up your beer possibilities immensely because many of the best beers are only sold in bottles. So it comes down to what type of flavor you want to add to your chicken. Does a sweeter bird sound good? How about something a little spicy, wheaty, or fruity? 

The most popular choice is lager, but I also like to use sour beer. I love citrus flavors, and the sour citrus seems to make the flavors come alive. It’s all a matter of personal preference. Get creative! 

Once you have marinated your chicken and chose the beer, you’re get the bird on the can and to get grilling! 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (12-ounce) can lager beer, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 4 tablespoon Sazon Seasoning
• 1 cup White distilled vinegar
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 1 lime,  cut into wedges
• 1 orange, cut into wedges
• 1 (4 to 4 1/2) pound whole chicken

Basting Sauce:

• 1/4 cup beer, reserved from above
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• Juice of ½ a Lemon
• 2 tablespoons Sazon seasoning
• 1 Garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

INSTRUCTIONS

Marinate:

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. 

Place lemon, lime and orange wedges into the center of the chicken. 

Stir the Sazon seasoning, garlic powder and red pepper flakes together in a small bowl. 

Pour the seasoning mixture into a large Ziploc bag, slowly pour vinegar, and EVOO into the same bag. Combine. 

Drop the chicken into the bag, zip the bag and shake until the chicken is well coated.

Marinate overnight. 

Basting Sauce:

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. 

Grilling:

Heat grill by heating 2 out of 3 (or 3 out of 4) of the burners to high heat. Keep the remaining burners off. 

Pour out or drink about half of the beer, reserving 1/4 cup for the basting sauce. 

Place the beer can inside a metal 9×13-inch aluminum pan. Lower the chicken leg-side down onto the beer until it is securely propped upright. Be careful when picking the pan up, have a firm grip on the chicken with one hand while holding the foil pan with the other. Trust me, I’ve totally lost my chicken by not doing that. 

Place the pan over indirect heat (over the turned-off burners) and grill for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, baste the chicken with the basting sauce. At this point, it will start to brown and look almost cooked through, even though it is not.

Baste the chicken with the sauce and continue to cook, covered, basting every 10 minutes, until the skin is deeply colored, crisp, and a probe thermometer in the deepest part of the thigh registers 165°F, about 25 to 35 minutes more depending the size of the chicken. 

Rotate the pan as needed so that the chicken browns evenly.

Remove the chicken and the pan with its drippings from the grill. (If you use a foil pan, slide the pan onto a baking sheet before moving it around)

Discard the beer can. Cover the chicken with aluminum foil, and allow to rest in a warm area for 10 minutes before slicing.

Sazon Substitute Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder 
• 1 tablespoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano 

Instructions

Combine all ingredients and mix well