Panko Fried Tomato Pizza On The Griddle: Crazy!! (Heavy Q-View)

[tx smoker]

I have to dedicate this episode of insanity to our good friend John ( SmokinVOLfan ) for planting the seed. In a recent thread he mentioned that he'd like to see me come up with a pizza on the griddle. Some of y'all know that if posed with something crazy to undertake, I'll do my best to make it happen, and this was no exception. Once I figured out what I wanted to do, it took a bit of time to think through the process. Everything cooks so fast on the griddle you don't have time for improvisation. Got some fresh tomatoes from a friend who grew them in her garden. We both LOVE fresh tomatoes but with all the wildlife around here we don't stand a chance on them reaching maturity before some critter eats them. She has a nice green house and is able to get them to grow. Decided to take one of those tomatoes and give this a trial run since Tracy was out with a friend last night. A good time to experiment. There were a lot of steps to this, hence a lot of pics.

Start with some homemade spicy Italian sausage

Onto the griddle

Sausage done. Step 1 complete

Now to Step 2: the tomatoes. From left to right, and in order of application is AP flour, egg wash, and panko

Tomatoes breaded and ready to go on the griddle

Here we go with something totally new to me

Step 2 complete. Tomatoes done

Now to Step 3: build the pizzas. I used Pillsbury pre-made dough and cut 4 pieces in approximately 6" round crusts and put the tomatoes on

Pepperoni

Sausage

Marinara

I went ahead and shredded part of that huge block of top-shelf whole milk mozz I found last week. It goes on next

Chop up some fresh green onions and add those

Put on the griddle and cover with the pizza dome. As has been stated by several folks, things happen so fast on the griddle you don't have time to play the mad shutterbug and take a lot of pics. Here they are all done.. Just beautiful!!

In the house

Money shot!!

Close up

Pizza insanity is complete A couple of takeaways. The crust was perfect. It had the exact flavor, texture, and crunchiness of having been cooked in a brick oven. The cheese was beautifully melted and simply delicious. Those panko crusted tomatoes were to die for though and the star of the pizzas!! I could easily just do those with a couple toppings and make a meal out of them. If anybody wants to give this a run for some odd reason, a couple things to take into account. Watch the crust closely because it'll burn real fast. If it reaches your desired level of being done before the tops are done, I'd imagine you could put them under the broiler on low heat (350 or so) to finish the tops and melt the cheese. Another thought might be to par cook one side of the crusts and build the pizza on that side then put them back on the griddle with the uncooked part on the bottom. These were fun, creative, and unbelievably good!! They will not however go into the "Quick Easy Griddle Meals" cookbook. These took a bit of time but well worth it and I'll be doing them again for Tracy one day real soon. Next will be to make the homemade mozz that was posted by SmokinAl That's gonna be fun!!

Y'all asked for it, so here ya go,
Robert
(P.S. this is in the "Pork" section because all the meats used were made from pork)

 

[smokerjim]

Looks like another winner Robert,

 

[gary s]

Dang looks mighty tasty neat idea

Gary

 

[tx smoker]

Looks like another winner Robert,

Thanks so much Jim. I had a ball putting this one together. It was a ton of fun.

Dang looks mighty tasty neat idea

Appreciate it Gary. It's amazing the ideas that come together lounging in the pool and sipping a big ol' margarita

Robert

 

[jcam222]

Those look just ridiculously delicious!! I’ll becteying a version of this sooner or later!! We love fresh tomato too. I’m surprised the critters mess with tomato plants. We have tons of rabbits so planting greens, broccoli , cauliflowe carrots etc they always eat the plants. It’s a battle. They don’t touch tomato plants. Only critters that mess with those are woodchucks love to grab a good ripe one to eat.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

I could easily stick my face into every bit of that. Looks awesome!

Dave

 

[Winterrider]

Those look pretty tasty. I might try with some zucchini slices also.

 

[Central PA Cowboy]

Dang!

 

[Bearcarver]

Great Idea, Robert !!
I could go for one of them---after I pick the onions off, or fry them first.
Nice Job!
Like.

Bear

 

[Brokenhandle]

That's awesome Robert! I saw that post where john SmokinVOLfan mentioned you making a pizza on the griddle...thought to myself, this is gonna be good! Your imagination and creativity never cease to amaze.

Nice job
Ryan

 

[Sowsage]

Looks awesome! Another fine flattop meal!

 

[sawhorseray]

How in the heck did you ever come up with that thought Robert? It looks absolutely delicious and easy enough to pull off, the fried maters gotta be a hit, Like! There's just no telling what you'll come up with next, very creative. RAY

 

[chef jimmyj]

Very nice! Just a note on some things Cooking Too Fast...TURN THE GRIDDLE TEMP DOWN! Great to sear burgers and Chops but you don't need the same high temp for every cook. Keep the magic coming...JJ

 

[Steve H]

Dang those look awesome! You get extra kudos for originality.

 

[tx smoker]

Those look just ridiculously delicious!!

Thanks Jeff. Nowhere nearly as impressive looking as the stuff you turn out but this does at least have some of the creative aspect.

They don’t touch tomato plants. Only critters that mess with those are woodchucks love to grab a good ripe one to eat.

We have pretty much every wild critter under the sun. Deer by the thousands, armadillos, squirrels, porcupines, skunks, wild turkeys, rattle snakes, etc.. I believe it's the squirrels that tend to destroy our tomatoes though. The deer are scavengers and will eat anything. There are a million "deer resistant" plants available here but the problem is that the deer did not bother to read the information and eat them anyway

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

I could easily stick my face into every bit of that. Looks awesome!

Appreciate it Dave but I don't think you wanna do that. The stuff was screaming hot when it came ff the griddle. You might wind up with a face full of charred cheese skin

Those look pretty tasty. I might try with some zucchini slices also.

That sounds like a great idea!! Hmmm...we love zucchini also so this could well be something I try pretty soon.

Dang!

I guess if you're gonna sum it up with one word, that one is appropriate Thanks Derek.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Great Idea, Robert !!
I could go for one of them---after I pick the onions off, or fry them first.

Thank you Bear. I understand and respect your aversion to onions but we kinda like them...and they are used a LOT around here. Appreciate the kind words sir.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

That's awesome Robert! I saw that post where john SmokinVOLfan SmokinVOLfan mentioned you making a pizza on the griddle...thought to myself, this is gonna be good! Your imagination and creativity never cease to amaze.

Thank you Ryan. I have no idea how the cogs of creativity keep turning but I will say it's been fun coming up with some of these things. Appreciate the kind words my friend.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Looks awesome! Another fine flattop meal!

Thank you Travis. You been turning out some pretty cool stuff recently so the accolades mean a lot.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

How in the heck did you ever come up with that thought Robert?

Well since you asked...I was in the pool with the mandatory afternoon margarita(s) after our friend dropped off the tomatoes. for some unknown reason the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" popped into my mind. I have no idea where it came from as I never saw the movie. Then I started thinking about fried tomatoes. Hmmm....just got some. Now to decide what to incorporate them into. first thought was Italian themed sammies then I remembered TN John's comment about pizzas on the flat top. This is what I came up with.

It looks absolutely delicious and easy enough to pull off, the fried maters gotta be a hit, Like! There's just no telling what you'll come up with next, very creative.

Very much appreciate it my friend. I'm just a guy with a few toys and way too much time on my hands...as well as a never ending supply of margaritas

Robert