Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Amore-Maker: Individual Pizzas w/ Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese, and Prosciutto

Ready to be irresistible? Your cupid is the lovely Miss Giada De Laurentiis, and her arrow is this appetizer recipe which I have adapted to work as a main course or side dish. Make these and the Ribolitta from yesterday's post for your desired target. That's what I did, and now I'm married to a sexy man. I didn't even have candles or music. (What?!) (I know!) Let's not waste any more time.
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Individual Pizzas w/ Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese, and Prosciutto adapted from a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis
Cook Time: 1 hr 15 min
Serves 8

Ingredients
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
7 large onions, sliced (about 5 cups)
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 teaspoons herbs de Provence (if you've never used this before, you are in for a treat!)
3 teaspoons sugar
2 balls purchased dough (about 24 to 32 ounces)
8 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
4 to 6 ounces prosciutto, cut into 2x2-inch pieces (Nix this ingredient for a great Vegetarian pizza)
Special equipment: pizza cutter, or knife

Directions
In a large, heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over low heat. Add the onions, salt, pepper, herbs de Provence, and sugar. Stir to combine. Continue cooking over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized and dark brown, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Grease two cookie sheets.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
Roll out one pizza dough ball into a long oval or rectangle, 1/4 inch thick. Using your pizza cutter or knife, cut out 4 ovals to serve as the base for individual pizzas, maybe about 6-8 inches long and 3-4 inches wide. (Unless you're amazing at this, you'll probably need to cut out a couple, collect the remaining dough scraps, roll them out, and cut a couple more.) Roll out the second dough ball and repeat to make 4 more pizza bases. Place 4 on each cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and spoon the caramelized onions evenly across each dough base. Top with goat cheese. Bake until golden and bubbly, about 10 minutes.
While still hot, top each pizza with prosciutto. Serve immediately.
Notes for Presentation: These can be served whole to each individual at the table OR you can slice each into thirds and arrange them on a platter, with some fresh rosemary as a garnish, to be served family style. Either way, try slicing the pizzas at a diagonal for a more manageable bite and a more pleasing look- two parallel cuts on each to make three slices.
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Serve alongside the rest of Menu #1:
Blue Cheese Baguette Spread and Sliced Pears
Ribollita
Red Grape Caesar Salad
Amaretto Pound Cake a la Mode
Slice into thirds using two diagonal, parallel cuts to make it easier for your guests to eat without making a mess. :)

5 comments:

  1. I may adapt this and make one (or two) large pizzas. We make homemade pizza almost weekly (kids love to eat it and help make it). We are huge fans of carmelized onions and especially goat chesse! Never used prosciutto before, but I've heard its kinda like bacon(?) so i'm all over it!
    -Jake

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  2. i LOVE the title! Can't wait to give this recipe to Paul so he can make it for me ;)

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  3. And you, B, probably have access to much better cheese out there in Denmark. Can I come to dinner???

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  4. Jake, prosciutto is an air-dried, salted Italian ham, so it's actually never cooked. It's very, very tender and it'll definitely have a different taste than bacon, but they do, of course, come from the same animal. When cantaloupe are in season, try wrapping a piece of prosciutto around a small ball of the cantaloupe. It's a classic. I had it for the first time that way when I was in Hong Kong and I was hooked!

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  5. Well I am a witness that these pizzas are darn good! Chef Janna is amazing and my taste buds were pretty much thanking her.

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