Tag: Pizza

This is delicious, a nice contrast to my favorite – arugula, spicy Italian sausage, and mozarella pizza. Adapted by LKD from the recipe at Handle the Heat, http://www.handletheheat.com/caramelized-onion-goat-cheese-and-prosciutto-pizza

Changes I made: used my own pizza dough recipe (half) and waited to add the prosciutto until the last few minutes of baking. The prosciutto got plenty crisp, so I think it might have burned if I’d put it on in the beginning

1/2 recipe pizza dough
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup caramelized onion (from about 1 large onion)
1 tablespoon high quality balsamic vinegar
4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
3 thin prosciutto slices, torn into pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Place a pizza stone on middle rack of the oven and preheat to 450°F for 30 minutes.

Stretch and roll out pizza dough on a floured work surface until as thin as possible without tearing. You should get about a 12-inch circle. If the pizza dough springs back, cover it with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for 10 minutes before continuing shaping. Transfer the pizza to a parchment lined pizza peel or flat cookie sheet.

Brush pizza dough evenly with the olive oil. Top with the goat cheese and onion. Sprinkle with the rosemary and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Bake the pizza for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and top with pieces of prosciutto. Bake or until the edges of the crust are golden.

Make caramelized onions: 

This is our absolute favorite pizza. The bitterness of the arugula is a wonderful complement to the salty, spicy Italian sausage.

Ingredients for two 12″ thin-crust pizzas. I only make one at a time, so I refrigerate the ingredients for the other half separately to make the second pizza a couple days later.

• One recipe of the dough for Golden Cheese Wheel
• 1 lb spicy pork Italian sausage (3-4 links, from Whole Foods)
• 4 Tbs tomato paste
• 5 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed through the garlic press
• 1 tsp dried basil
• Pinch of salt
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2Tbs warm water
• 7 oz package baby arugula (from Trader Joe’s)
• 8 oz. mozzarella, shredded

1. Prepare pizza dough a few hours ahead. Meanwhile, remove the sausage casings and cook the sausage in a skillet, breaking into small pieces as it cooks. Place cooked sausage in shallow dish lined with paper towels. Can be done ahead and refrigerated until you’re ready to use.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the tomato paste, garlic, basil, salt, and olive oil. Stir in enough water (about 2Tbs) to make a sauce the consistency of jam.
3. Preheat oven with stone to 500 and let heat an additional 20-30 minutes.
4. When you’re ready to form the pizza dough, pinch off half (if you’re making a whole recipe of dough) and on a floured surface roll or stretch out to a rectangle or circle to fit the pizza stone. you’ll probably need to let it rest a couple times to get it to stretch to the desired size. Smear a light coating of olive oil on the BACK side of the large baking sheet; dust with cornmeal. Transfer the dough to the back side of the baking sheet.
5. Spread tomato paste mixture evenly over entire surface of dough. I use a very flexible silicone spatula for this. Put in hot oven and immediately reduce heat to 425. Bake 6 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and top with arugula. It’s easiest to dump the entire pile on a once, and then use fingertips to gently spread the pile out to the edges. Top with crumbled sausage. Top with shredded mozzarella. Pressing gently with your hands, flatten the entire mound so that it is of a uniform thickness. With a metal spatula, loosen the pizza crust.
7. Return pizza to oven, sliding pizza off baking sheet directly onto baking stone. Bake 5 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly. Cut into small pieces and serve immediately.