This mouthful-name of a pizza contained a bunch of firsts for me. 1) Caramelized onions. I had never made them before, but I've always loved them. They weren't as difficult as I thought! I followed a tutorial somewhere on youtube and it takes about 30 minutes to become that gorgeous brown translucent color, but it was so worth it. 2) Pancetta! What is it? Where do you find it? Originally I wanted to get prosciutto because that's the closest thing to bacon but less greasy. But, when I ventured out across the street to the store pancetta was sitting right next to prosciutto and it looked lonely, and it was $1 cheaper, so I thought I'd give it a chance on this experimental pizza. Guys, it worked, and it was so good!!!! 3) Pizza dough from scratch. I always thought making the dough from scratch would be really scary and require a lot of effort. It was very simple actually, and from start to finish (making dough, topping pizza, baking pizza, and putting it in my belly) it was an hour and a half.
I added pears to the pizza which may seem strange but it was refreshing! These pears were leftover from the apple picking adventure (they also had pears at the apple orchard!). When sliced thinly, and eaten with the caramelized onions and gouda and melted mozzarella, it was delicious. Fruit and cheese as a classic combo always works, and it translated to pizza extremely well!
Anyway, I'm getting excited for Halloween this weekend! I still don't have my costume put together yet, but I still have time...heh heh. Is anyone else dressing up? going out? watching scary movies? eating candy? carving pumpkins? Whatever you do (or don't do) hope you have the best Halloween ever!
Pear, Pancetta, Caramelized Onions, and Arugula Pizza
Ingredients:
- 1 pizza dough (I used this recipe and thought it worked out fine!)
- 8 oz. mozzarella
- 1/4 cup gouda, diced into small cubes
- 4 oz. (approx. 1/2 cup) cubed pancetta
- 1 large pear, sliced thin, length-wise
- 1/2 cup caramelized onions (approx. 1 small onion)
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 2 tsp. garlic powder
- large handful of arugula, for topping
- drizzle of olive oil
Directions: Preheat oven to 375° F. Roll pizza dough out evenly until flat on a pizza stone or flat baking sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic powder and oregano. Top with mozzarella and gouda to start, spreading evenly. Then, add the sliced pears. Sprinkle the caramelized onions and pancetta on top, and bake in preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes or until cheese in the middle is completely melted and the bottom of crust is slightly brown. Top with arugula, slice, and serve!
