Every year for St. Patrick’s Day I load up the smoker with corned beef brisket to make homemade pastrami. Being Irish, this is the perfect meal that combines my heritage with my passion for barbecue. This year’s pastrami smoke-out took place a couple weekends ago, and was once again a huge success. But now that I’ve been eating sandwiches for the better part of two weeks, it’s time to throw a little variety into the mix. My buddy Gish was having a grilled pizza party for March Madness, so we packed up the pastrami fixins to test out a new grilled Reuben pizza recipe.
Gish is a master home-brewer, and his fascination with yeast had led him into developing his own beer dough recipe. I don’t have the recipe that he uses, so you’ll just have to make do with a store-bought dough, or you can run a Google search for pizza dough recipes and pick out one that you like.
Once you’ve got the dough formed into the pizza shape you want, top it with a thick layer of dark brown mustard and sauerkraut. This will add good moisture to your cooked pizza.
Next, pile on the sliced pastrami. The one I made could have used a little more meat, so doesn’t hesitate to load up. Just think of those giant Reuben sandwiches in the New York delis. More is definitely better in this case.
Top the whole thing off with fresh grated Jarlsberg cheese. A traditional Reuben uses Swiss, but I really like the flavor of Jarlsberg. It’s similar to Swiss, but has more nutty and sweet flavors. Plus I think it melts a little better than Swiss, which works well for pizzas.
The grill racks were slid back inside the Good-One Rodeo, which we had cruising along at 400 degrees, for about 20 minutes (or until the crust was crispy and cheese was melted). We had the top two racks loaded with pizzas, and the upper one was running just a little hotter, so the pizzas on the lower rack stayed in a couple minutes longer.
Just before serving I drizzled thousand island dressing across the top of the pizza.
I must say that this thing came out fantastic! So much so, that we made another one so everyone could have a slice. This recipe is definitely a keeper, and may have even inspired me to make pastrami more than once a year!
Here’s the pizza dough recipe we used in case anyone wants it. Super-easy recipe from All Recipes site, made in the bread machine:
Ingredients:
1 c. flat beer (any kind you like – we used an American Wheat)
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp White Sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 c. bread flour (All-purpose flour works too)
2 1/4 tsp yeast
Directions:
1.Put beer, butter, sugar, salt, flour, and yeast in a bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough setting, and press Start.
2.Remove dough from bread machine when cycle is complete. Roll or press dough to cover a prepared pizza pan. Brush lightly with olive oil. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.
3.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4.Spread sauce and toppings on top of dough. Bake until crust is lightly brown and crispy on the outside, about 24 minutes.
Happy Eating! (Recipe from All Recipes – Bread Machine Pizza Dough by Kim)
Stephanie (Gish’s girlfriend)
Thanks for sharing Steph!
Oh man now I’m starving! Thanks for the dough recipe, I can never seem to get it right 🙂
I use a pizza dough recipe from Charles Van Over that uses a food processor to knead and it’s easy to find on the net. I usually make a batch, cut it into thirds, use one of them and freeze the other two in baggies for later. The recipe is from his book, The Best Bread Ever. Here’s a link that I just found: http://www.gardenguides.com/1015-pizza-dough.html
Enjoy
You’re insane…Please stay that way!
Mmmmm that looks delicious. Have you tried making a bolognese pizza? Made one the other day and think I’ve started an addiction!