Our New Cooking Obsession: Grilled Pizza

Looks like we're getting all FOOD NETWORK up in this hizzy. I've been making pizza creations for years using Trader Joe's pizza dough -- but Maria convinced me recently to try it on the grill.

I was skeptical at first... but I'm now a convert. The pizza comes out with a crispy crust, the kind you can never really get in a regular oven. And it's not all that messy.



To prepare, I roll out the dough as normal, and slather olive oil on one side. Then I start the grill, and let the dough bake (olive oil side down) for five minutes. Take it off the grill, slather olive oil on top, then flip it and stick it back on the grill (again, olive oil side down). Add your toppings, including cheese, on top... close the grill and cook for another five minutes or so (or until the cheese is just starting to brown). The first few tries were a little uneven on the bottom (a touch black in some places), so just keep monitoring it.



Then... it's like having a wood-burning pizza oven. Without the wood burning.

Jamie Oliver Launches His Next Revolution in L.A.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, whose battle against obesity was the basis of ABC's "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," is taking his campaign here.

"Jamie's Kitchen," which he opened in Huntington, W. Va., as part of that first series, opens an outpost today in Westwood. The eatery and teaching kitchen will become home base for the latest edition of "Food Revolution," shot here.

More info:

Jamie’s Kitchen will provide a place for the community to come and learn to cook fresh food quickly and inexpensively. Jamie’s Kitchen will provide educational resources and information to help families and individuals combat the obesity epidemic by recapturing their kitchens.

Last year, Jamie hosted the Emmy-winning ABC docu-reality series, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," where he set up shop in Huntington, West Virginia, one of the unhealthiest areas in America. His goal was to help the people switch from fast and processed foods to fresh, both in the schools and at home. In additional to working directly in the schools, he opened the Huntington Kitchen to teach the community to cook. The Huntington Kitchen remains open today and has been the centerpiece of a revitalized downtown center.

His “Feed Me Better” campaign in the United Kingdom led the British government to add $1 billion into the school food budget and more recently, his “Food Revolution” campaign in the United States helped pass the “Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act” of 2010.

Jamie ‘s Kitchen
1038 Westwood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90024

The Return of Evan Kleiman's Pie-A-Day Blog

The Angeli Caffe chef/owner and host of KCRW's Good Food, Evan Kleiman, has dusted off her Pie-A-Day blog.

The site already boasts two pies for the year: Squirrel War Nectarine/Blackberry Pie (above), and Eddie Lin's Frito Pie.

That's right, Kleiman is spreading the love this year, inviting other chefs and foodies to share their favorite pie recipes. Notes KCRW:

Last summer, Evan baked a pie a day and blogged about it, sharing pictures, stories of successes and failures, recipes and contributions from listeners and other pie-fans across the country. Intending to bake one pie-a-day only through summer, the blog and pie mania it inspired had Evan baking a pie almost daily up to November.

It all culminated in the Pie Contest: 142 pies were registered and it took 9 celebrity chefs, food writers and bloggers to judge the results. A crowd of nearly 400 onlookers got the chance to taste a slice; and winners took home special prizes in four different pie categories.

This year's Second Annual Good Food Pie Contest takes place Labor Day weekend (Sunday) in Beverly Hills. Details to come.

Your Chance to Grill Bobby Flay. Or, At Least, Grill With Bobby Flay

Admit it, you'd like to school Bobby Flay on national TV, showing him how to truly grill. Food Network is looking for people to appear on the latest Flay enterprise, "Grill It with Bobby Flay." (Seriously, how many shows can one guy star in on the Food Network?)

According to the channel, applicants must send a 3-minute VHS tape or DVD of themselves cooking something. There are no winners or losers on the show, so don't expect some big prize. But hey, if you're a media whore like me, just being on TV is enough. Here's the address:

ATT: GRILL IT! 110 Leroy Street, New York City , NY 10014

Send those tapes in by March 15; you've gotta be 18 or older.

Batty for Gingerbread

When the mailman delivers a surprise package from JustJenn, it is indeed a happy day. Even if he also dropped off the water and power bill. Above, JustJenn's gingerbread bats. Check out the process here.

Franklin Avenue Kitchen: Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and Scallops

For Valentine's Day, I traditionally hit the Food Network website and whip up a Giada recipe. This year, I went with Tyler Florence's Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and Scallops (found here).

Tyler rates the recipe as easy and done in 30 minutes. I'd bump it up to intermediate, and warn you that it will take more than half and hour. Not only does it take a while to prepare all the ingredients, but the rice in the risotto takes a while to cook.

The recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds sea scallops; I picked up two bags of frozen scallops at Trader Joe's for $5.99 each (this isn't a cheap dish!) I also bought portobello, shiitake and regular mushrooms at TJs... but the herbs -- thyme sprigs, flat-leaf parsley and bay leaves -- required a separate trip to Gelson's.



Tyler says the dish will feed 4 servings; we found it to be more like 6 or 8. So much was there in the cooking stage that we had to eventually move it to a bigger pot (above).

In the end, though, all the time and grief was worth it.