For two days, I was obsessed with thoughts of this pizza. It came to me in a shamanic reverie (aka, trolling my FB newsfeed for recipe ideas), and I knew I had to make it. It was so easy, so possible, and would be SO delicious. I even started frantically texting people: “Do you want to come over and make this roasted fig, chèvre, and caramelized onion pizza?” The answers were inevitably the same: first the expected “LOL,” and then, as the obsession began to infiltrate, “YES. WHEN.“
We set a date. I had everything I needed, and would go to my favorite hyper-local co-op/bakery, Arizmendi, for pre-made dough**. I picked rosemary on my daily stroll in Diamond Heights, and made sure said friends were bringing wine and chocolate. Culinary heaven ensued. Here’s how.***
**This was when I lived in San Francisco. I don’t yet have a favorite local dough source in Los Angeles, so I like to make my own. It’s so easy. Seriously. See below for the recipe I like most.
***Over the past 2 years, Kale & Caramel readers have written in with the most delightful riffs on this pizza—from adding bacon to topping with parmesan cheese. Get creative and show me how you make your fig pizza on Instagram @kaleandcaramel!
Ingredients
- 1 ball pre-made pizza dough at room temperature, or make your own
- 8-10 inch ripe mission or Turkish figs sliced ¼ thick
- 4-5 ounces chèvre goat cheese
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp . olive oil for caramelizing the onions plus more for drizzling
- 2-3 Tbsp . balsamic vinegar for caramelizing the onions plus more for drizzling
- 1 Tbsp . fresh rosemary leaves
- black or white truffle oil for drizzling before and after the oven
- sea salt
- fresh ground pepper
- cornmeal for baking sheet
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 525°. Sauté onions in olive oil and balsamic vinegar on medium heat, sprinkling with sea salt and pepper. Continue stirring until onions are soft, transparent, and browning, about 20-25 minutes. Taste and add salt and balsamic as necessary. They should be tangy and umami-filled.
- Sprinkle a large pizza stone or cookie sheet with cornmeal, and stretch out pizza dough by letting it hang from both hands until it reaches desired shape and evenness. The edges can be slightly thicker than the middle, and the whole thing should be quite thin as it will rise. It’s a pretty forgiving piece of dough, so don’t worry too much.
- Drizzle dough with a generous hand of olive oil and a light sprinkle of sea salt, then evenly spread out the caramelized onions. Crumble most of the goat cheese and sprinkle most of the rosemary on top. Spread out figs, top with the rest of the goat cheese, rosemary, and a drizzle of balsamic over the whole thing. Then add a light drizzle of truffle oil, if you choose. (If you don’t choose, you lose. Seriously, the truffle oil is EVERYTHING. Huge props to my partner-in-kitchen-crime Janson Woodlee for innovating this fig pizza variation.)
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, checking occasionally. Remove from oven when edges are golden brown and crisp to your liking. Transfer to a wooden cutting board and cut for serving.
