Grilled Pear and Prosciutto Pizza

The inspiration for this grilled pizza was from Robust Wine Bar, one of my favorite places in St. Louis to go on pleasant evenings to sit out on the sidewalk, sample their sumptuous small plates and sip their wonderful wine list. Their pear and prosciutto pizza is to die for and while this is not the perfect substitute, it is as close as you can get right now as their menu changes often and that item is no longer served at Robust. Should you want to recreate that masterpiece, this is as close as it gets. If anyone knows any ingredients I’m missing in my version of this grilled pear and prosciutto pizza, please let me know so I can add them.

Grilled Pear and Prosciutto Pizza Ingredients:

1 very ripe bartlett pear, sliced into thin wedges
1 16 ounce fresh pizza dough ball
1 tbsp corn meal
3 tbsp olive, divided into 3
2 tsp garlic, minced
4 oz goat cheese
4 oz sliced prosciutto
1 oz asiago cheese, microplaned over the pizza
4 oz baby arugula

Pear, Prosciutto, Goat Cheese and Arugula

Slice the ripe bartlett pear into thin wedges:

Sliced Pear

Set up the grill for direct grilling. In this case, the third Grillin’ Fool’s, Tom’s, brand new two burner, Char-Broil TRU Infrared gas grill set to high or about 700 degrees:

Char-Broil TRU Infrared

Grill the pears to get some nice grill marks, only a minute or two at those temps:

Grill the Pears

Nice Grill Marks

Once the pears are grilled, set them aside and adjust the temp of the Char-Broil TRU Infrared to 400 degrees and get to work on the crust:

400 Degrees

Spread out a tablespoon of the corn meal on the cutting board and then put the pizza dough ball on the corn meal, coating the outside and then roll the ball out into a crust:

Corn Meal

Rolled Out

You can use one of these fancy little rollers to make a perfectly round pizza, but it’s not necessary:

Mini Roller

Once it goes on the grill, the shape it is now will not have any bearing on the final pizza.

Note ~ The dough ball is easier to work with if it is at room temperature. But if it gets too warm after it is rolled out, it will become unmanageable as it will become way too elastic and stretchy.

Brush one tbsp of oil over crust:

Brush the oil on

Completely covered with oil

Now over to the Char-Broil TRU Infrared. Pick up the crust on the two corners across from you and place it oil side down on the 400 degree grill:

Pick up the dough

On the Grill

See what I mean about the shape won’t matter once it’s on the grill:

Not close to round anymore

Now brush this side with a tbsp of oil:

Brush the other side with oil

Oiled

Then close the lid on the grill but don’t go far. This only takes a few minutes to cook the bottom side of that grilled pizza crust:

Close the Lid

It doesn’t take long for the crust to start to bubble. Don’t sweat the bubbles unless one is so big that the crust will cook unevenly:

Bubbly

Keep checking the bottom until it is browned through. In this case, it’s not done yet and I see that the crust closest to the front is not cooking as much as over the middle, so I slid it toward the back to the front of the crust would cook too:

Not cooking near the front very well

Slid to the back

Once the grilled pizza crust is golden brown on the bottom, remove from the grill and cover with the last tbsp of oil:

Golden

Brush with oil

Then apply the 2 tsp of garlic and spread evenly:

Spread the garlic

Spread Evenly

Now put chunks of goat cheese all over the grilled pizza:

Cover the crust with the cheese

Note – In hindsight, I wouldn’t have applied the cheese this way. I would’ve let it come to room temp, put it in a bowl with the garlic and mixed it together and then spread it on like a paste. See, the goat cheese doesn’t melt like a mozzarella or provel. That’s why I did the smoked salmon pizza like this:

Goat Cheese Spread Evenly

Back to the Grilled Pear and Prosciutto Pizza. Add the slices of prosciutto and pear. You may not use all the pear or prosciutto, but use as much as you like:

Pear and Prosciutto Added

Add a snowfall of asiago via a microplane:

Cover with asiago

Now we’re ready to go back on the Char-Broil TRU Infrared with our grilled pear and prosciutto pizza:

Ready for the grill

On the TRU Infrared

***Editor’s Note ~ While that looks like a lot of Asiago cheese, the microplane scraps the little snow flakes of cheese so thin that it looks like a lot more is there. I probably should’ve doubled the amount of cheese on the grilled pizza***

It takes only about 4-5 minutes, depending on the heat of the grill to get the crust golden brown underneath. Keep checking the underside of the grilled pizza to make sure it doesn’t burn. When it looks like this, pull from the grill:

Ready to come off the grill

You can slide it off onto a cutting board or you can use a pizza peel. This one is from Big Green Egg:

On the Peel

Then hit the top of the pizza with the baby arugula and slice:

Topped with arugula

Sliced

And plate:

Plated

The sweet of the pear, the salt of the prosciutto and the spice of the arugula come together into a pleasantly, pleasing pizza. Add in the crispiness of the crust and the crunch of the fresh greens, it is an extraordinary edible experience, all prepared on the grill, because that’s what we do.

If you have any questions about the grilled pear and prosciutto pizza recipe above or have your own pizza recipes, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email.

If you would like other grilled pizza recipes, click here.

Also, you can follow the Grillin’ Fools on their Facebook page where you can post your grilling pictures, share a grilling recipe or two, or join the general grilling conversation.  You can follow them on Twitter @GrillinFool

Click Here To Print Recipe Sheet

Grilled Pear and Prosciutto Pizza

A wonderfully elegant grilled pizza that pairs perfectly with a nice chardonnay

Author: Scott Thomas

Cuisine: BBQ

Recipe type: Pizza

Serves: 4-6

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 16 ounce fresh pizza dough ball
• 1 very ripe bartlett pear, sliced into thin wedges
• 1 tbsp corn meal
• 3 tbsp olive, divided into 3
• 2 tsp garlic, minced
• 4 oz goat cheese
• 4 oz sliced prosciutto
• 1 oz asiago cheese, microplaned over the pizza
• 4 oz baby arugula

Instructions

1. Remove the dough ball from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature
2. Set up the grill for high heat grilling (400-500 degrees)
3. Place the pear slices on the grill to get get a nice charring on both sides
4. Remove from the Char-Broil Tru Infrared and set aside
5. Spread out the corn meal on a cutting board
6. Roll the dough out on the corn meal covered board
7. Brush the top with olive oil
8. Place the pizza crust on the grill, oil side down
9. Oil the top of the pizza dough
10. When the crust bubbles over the entire surface, check the bottom for browning
11. If it is not browning evenly, rotate the crust that is not done as much over the spot where it is browning the most
12. When browned evenly, remove from the grill, flip over and place on a clean cutting board browned side up
13. Coat the browned side with olive oil
14. Spread the minced garlic over the crust evenly
15. Place chunks of the chèvre goat cheese over the pizza crust
16. Add the prosciutto, grilled pear and asiago cheese
17. Put the grilled pizza back onto the grill
18. The time it took for the crust to brown the first time, is how long it should take the second time, so keep a close eye
19. When the bottom is browned the cheese will be melted and the rest of the toppings warmed
20. Remove from the grill and apply the baby arugula
21. Slice and serve

3.2.1226

Share this: