For those of you who don't know me personally, a couple of years ago my mom planted a fig tree in the back of our house and it has really begun to produce. Right now is the peak of their season and our tree is producing so many figs that we cannot eat them fast enough before they have gotten spoiled. So, I thought it would be a great idea to start using them to bake with :) Here is my first recipe to use (a success!):
Fig Pizza
1-Pillsbury pre-made thin crust pizza dough
1-5 oz. container of Gorgonzola cheese
1-3 oz. package of Prosciutto
6- small FRESH figs
2-Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1-Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
to taste- Salt and pepper
Method
First, pre-heat the oven using the directions on the dough label. Next, open the dough and stretch and mold it into a large round pizza pan that has been sprayed with Pam and lightly dusted with flour. Then, bake the crust for approximately 5 minutes until 1/2 - 3/4 cooked. Pull it out of the oven and spread all of the gorgonzola cheese around the pizza evenly. PLace the pizza back in the oven and slice figs like you would pepperonis (into small circles). Place them in a bowl and soak in 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. By this time the cheese should be melted and the crust should be done. Remove pizza from oven and lay out prosciutto pieces to cover the cheese. Then, place fig slices all over the pizza and return the pizza back to the oven to heat the ham and figs (about 1 minute). Lastly, toss about two cups of arugula with salt, pepper, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar. Once the pizza is fully heated, remove it from the oven and place the tossed greens on top. Then, EAT UP!
My dad was very impressed with this recipe and actually told me it made his mouth happy. Thank you Food and Wine magazine for an issue from last year that featured a slight variation of this recipe.
