If you don’t have a pizza oven, the grill is the next best heat source for the kind of pizza that might get written up in New York magazine as like, the best ever and “I can’t believe you never heard of this place!” A crisp exterior with a chewy and airy bite that’s just this side of burnt - to me that is pizza perfection. I’ve learned my way around the grill over the years, after many misfires resulting in folded, ripped and otherwise no-fun pizza crusts, so here’s a couple of things I picked up. Any standard pizza crust should do, I use the one from Vegan With A Vengeance.

Lana showcases a rather toast-shaped pizza with grilled zuke, avocado and pesto

First off, forget about circles. In fact, forget about any shape you know. Instead of thinking your crust looks deformed think “rustic” and your grilled pizzas will be a different kind of perfect everytime.

Preheat the grill to medium heat. Throw some cornmeal onto a large cutting board, then press and roll the dough into a free-form shape. If you’re grilling it’s a safe bet that it’s warm outside, and so your dough is going to be floppy. It helps to keep the dough refrigerated until ready to use, that way it doesn’t flap in the breeze like so much laundry on the line when it comes time to grill it. I keep the dough kind of thick, too. It’s just easier to handle that way.

Brush some olive oil onto the top then carefully, but not too carefully, flip the crust onto the grill oiled side down. If you try to flip the dough and it immediately starts folding over or sticking, then stick it back into the fridge, cutting board and all, for just a few minutes.

Cook for about 5 minutes, rotating with a spatula once in awhile for even heating. It should be nice and dark with a few grill marks on the bottom. Flip the crust and add the toppings.

It’s important not to go too crazy with the sauce and toppings, you don’t want a soggy pizza or a droopy crust - it’s not a hammock, it’s a pizza. Shut the lid if you’re using cheeze, but if it still doesn’t melt, pop it in the oven broiler for a few.

The lovely Emiko with a pizza so bright she had to wear shades. 

For toppings I love to use whatever is seasonal, right now that’s asparagus, zucchini - we even have some early summer peaches!

Peaches, kalamata olives, garlic and herbs from my garden

Grilled asparagus, toasted pine nuts, homemade sausages, fresh tomatoes

Oh, and before I get barraged - the cheeze is a mix of Teese and Cheezly, both available at FoodFightGrocery.com.

Now get out there and you go grill!

Chicago Soy Dairy sent me four pounds of Teese, their new soy cheese. I hosted a pizza party on Sunday night to see what was what.

When it comes to soy cheese, a key phrase from my days as a cubical inhabitant come to mind: “manage expectations.” And I guess as vegans our expectations have been effectively managed. We don’t require much, if it melts we seem to be sufficiently satisfied. That aftertaste of melted crayons? You know what? We can deal with it. But the thing is, most soy cheeses don’t do a good job of melting and so we’re often left with workarounds like broiling or, god forbid, microwaving and some of us even resort to satanic ritual or boiler room deals with shady characters that promise us they can “make it melt.” Then before we know it, we’re missing fingers and our life savings.

Exclusive photos of the star of the evening, thoroughly undressed!

But let me get straight to the point - Teese forking melts! It doesn’t disentigrate or merely become softish. It melts! And our tasters were also pleased with the taste. General consensus was that it was an improved Follow Your Heart and so it was difficult to discuss Teese on its own merit without mentioning FYH. The taste could be described as tangy and creamy. And, to put it bluntly, one tester said “There’s no nice way to phrase it: it definitely didn’t have the funky smell that FYH has when melted.” Granted, she didn’t care much for Follow Your Heart to begin with. Another tester who was a FYH fan said “It seemed to have lower water content, which made it more cheese-like.” But she thought that it was only a minor improvement to FYH. The only place where FYH won out was that people seemed to think it congealed faster when cooling down.

Patty, our Brooklyn Italian vegan tester and professional pizza model, loving on the Teese

But we’re vegans, who cares what we think, right? Let’s get the opinion that really matters - that of people who eat cheese. Well both cheese eaters at our soiree were impressed. They thought the Teese was best compared to a soft, fresh mozzerella. It didn’t have the stretchy stringiness normally associated with pizza parlor cheese. One of our cheese eating testers thought that it could pass for cheese, the other didn’t think it would fool anyone, but he still enjoyed it. He had, like, 8 slices.

As for me, I loved it. It was a joy to work with and I’m excited to get to the pictures so I’m gonna’ go ahead and shut up and let the pizzas do the talking. Since it’s so image heavy, the pizzas are below the cutsky.

You can order a sample here, for 7.50 a pound. Do it, you won’t regret it.

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The boys at Chicago Soy Dairy have been hard at work on their latest product, a vegan cheese called Teese. I have high hopes for this stuff, and I’ll be testing it in my oven at a pizza party next weekend. Until then, you can watch it melt in a pizza oven to a back drop of “Rock You Like A Hurricane.” As if we needed Scorpion to make the melting soy cheese seem exciting!

Teese is being served at a few restaurants in Chicago but not yet available to individual consumers. Hopefully it will be soon! If you have an eatery that serves soy cheese in your hood let them know about this new cheese or contact swade@welovesoy.com and he can get in touch.

All praise to Paula for giving me the title of this blog entry.