Gettin’ Figgy With It

By Kate Riley September 9, 2011

You inspire me, truly you do.  The other day I posted about those simple sew napkins and placemats, and happened to mention I was in possession of mission figs and casually suggested you send some recipes my way.  Well thank you to Kim, Lara, Sarah, Dawn, and Camille, you completely made my day. 

I confess in years past I’ve never actually sought out the fig as an item to purchase at the local market.  One time a friend had a fig tree and I made and canned some fig jam, but ended up giving most of it away to a self professed fig lover.  That’s neither here nor there because what I meant to say was ever since we’ve been receiving a bimonthly box of organic produce from local farms shipped to our door (as I mentioned here) we’ve become adventurers in gastronomy.     

“The Box” as we call it is like getting a Christmas present every two weeks.  We never know what will be inside “The Box” of produce, we only know it will be what’s in season.  We’ve made a vow to create something new from at least one thing inside the contents of “The Box” whenever we get it, and those figs were it.

As a result of the mystery delivery, things have occurred that have changed my life and my diet.  I’ve embraced the bok choy with soy, fallen in love with roasted beets, and this week, I began a passionate affair with the perfectly ripe fig.  That’s right, I’m gettin’ figgy with it.  May it be a lifelong dance. 

I was forced back into the kitchen at the suggestion of several of these readers.

Kim informed me that my life would never be the same unless I tried the following melody of flavors.  I admit, I certainly did not want to ever regret anything for the rest of my life, especially if it absolutely required a pairing with a good Pinot Noir, so Kim had my attention.  

Kim flatbread recipe

Lara got me thinking about pizza:

lara recipe

Sarah wrote in with this amazing recipe:

sarah comment

Dawn chimed in with another delicious cheese/fig/prosciutto combo:

dawn comment

Finally, Camille offered this advice:

camille comment

 

Based on all the comments, I was convinced I needed and I mean NEEDED a fig, cheese, and prosciutto combination pizza or I simply couldn’t sleep.  I came up with this gourmet pizza that pretty much has everything.  Sweet figs, savory blue cheese, salty prosciutto, melted mozzarella, and sassy green onion.  I tell you, the marriage of flavors was pure bliss. 

slice of fig pizza cg

 

Allow me to share it with you.  First, start with these simple ingredients. 

easy ingredients

 

10 oz thin pizza crust

2 tbsp olive oil

4 ripe figs

4 oz shredded mozzarella

2 oz crumbled blue cheese

1 oz sliced prosciutto

diced green onion

Yes, I purchased a store bought Boboli, and no I did not make a homemade pizza crust, do not judge.  Yes, I could sweat and slave all day making pizza crust from scratch, but I’ll save that for another gastronomical adventure.  Making perfect pizza dough is certainly on my “Life’s To Do List” but I was hungry and anxious to get to those figs.

To make the pizza, first drizzle olive oil on the crust, then bake at 400 degrees for 9 minutes.  While your crust is in the oven, prepare your toppings. 

Slice your figs and admire their aubergine color . . .

mission figs sliced

 

Slice up your prosciutto . . .

sliced prosciutto

 

Dice your blue cheese . . .

diced blue cheese

 

Slice up a few thin pieces of the milder part of the green onion . . .

green onion

If you’re not an onion lover, I’m thinking some fresh spinach leaves would be a nice alternative.

Next, layer your ingredients. First your mozzarella, next your blue cheese, then comes the sliced figs, prosciutto, then finally the green onion.  Add a little extra mozzarella on top, because you know you want to. 

add figs prosciutto and onion

 

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then serve up your hot pizza with a beverage (Pinot Noir for me) and you’ve got yourself a perfect gourmet pizza.   

fig cheese prosciutto pizza cg

 

This medley of sweet figs, savory blue cheese, salty prosciutto, and cheesy goodness is worthy of an “Amen”.   To Kim, Lara, Sarah, Dawn, and Camille, my palate thanks you. 

fig prosciutto blue cheese pizza

Cheers friends.

Now go forth, and get figgy with it. 

 

 

39 comments

  1. I confess I’ve never eaten a fig outside of a Fig Newton, but that looks lovely. Gordon Ramsey made a Fig Tart thingy on his show the other day that looked D-vine! Maybe Figs are the new strawberry…

  2. We do this same concept in a quesadilla with life changing results. Tortilla (regular or whole wheat), goat cheese, fig jam and/or fresh figs, prosciutto, and a little green onion. As an appetizer or main dish. Just fabulous.

    Or all of the above with ham or turkey on a panini for lunch.

    Trader Joe’s now has jarred fig butter. I am completely in love with it.

    And I think I know what I will be making for lunch today…

  3. 2 questions – what CSA do you use and would you recommend them? I am not liking mine anymore (I am in Petaluma). And how was the costco RR Pinot? I have a few of the kirkland wines and I have been loving them. I have heard from industry peeps that all of the fruit comes from real high end wineries.

    Thanks for sharing the recipes!

  4. I have been following your blog for a long time now and just thought I should pop a little note of appreciation in… You are incredibly talented, and I confess…I covet your creativity!
    I would never have thought to marry proscuitto and blue cheese with figs! I love all these foods so of course it would taste heavenly! I have saved this recipe and I am thinking I will make it on my cheat day from my diet!! (Hawaii bound soon :))
    Thank you for your hard work and sharing such wonderful recipes and creative projects!

  5. Looks great! I’m going to give it a try this weekend. You really should try making homemade pizza crust. “Homemade” makes it sound like a long process, but your perception that you’ll have to “sweat and slave all day” could not be further from the truth – especially if you own a stand mixer. It takes less than 15 minutes to put together plus an hour to rise. Seriously easy, and you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry already. Try this recipe sometime: http://www.marthastewart.com/316808/whole-wheat-pizza-dough

  6. After posting this comment for you, I decided that rather than continue to order this masterpiece from a restaurant, I should be making it myself. Last night was the night for us. I made the dough and prepared mine just as you did, except I used the grill. It was pure heaven. I also made another flatbread with peaches, gorgonzola, mozzarella, balsalmic reduction and arugula salad. I tell you, flatbreads are life changing. Glad you enjoyed yours! Love, LOVE your blog!! :)

  7. Your pizza sounds and looks scrumptious! A great combination. I started cooking and baking with figs a couple years ago. I wanted to try something different and had never tasted a fig until a couple years ago. There is a wonderful cookbook called Fig Heaven by Marie Simmons. It’s an interesting and fun book you might enjoy. Happy weekend, Kate.

  8. Looks delicious! I may have to try this!.

    How do you tell when a Fig is ripe at the grocery store???

  9. Wow–that looks great! We make our own pizza dough often–it is really easy, and can be frozen. We use the recipe from Jim Lahey’s book My Bread. Awesome, easy, and cheap. I can’t wait to try the fig pizza!

  10. Hi Dara, we use “Fresh Farm To You” and have been pretty pleased with them. And that Costco Pinot is shockingly good, great price too. We sample a few from there now and then, and this one we would buy again.

    Kate, thanks for the recipe!!! So glad to know it’s not a huge headache to make pizza dough! I should look into frozen too, thanks Megan!

    Erin, I think it a ripe fig is ever so slightly soft to the touch but not mushy and certainly not firm.

    xo
    Kate

  11. I must get figgy with it tonight; my tastebuds are excited! Thanks for sharing and thanks to the lovely ladies who sparked your creativity with this recipe.

  12. Ohhhh….I need to try this! I wonder how it would taste with whole wheat crust? I found a recipe for crust that is SUPER fast and yummy – I should dig it out and share. :-) Also…reading some comments and I have to say I love The Pioneer Woman!!! Hmmmm…..

    On a side note…I don’t normally post about GIVEAWAYS, but I’m super excited to have my sister sponsor a fantastic photography giveaway on my blog. She is very experienced and under the name Kayla J Photography! Feel free to check it out and enter if you are interested.

    Thank you for sharing! I’m adding this to my grocery list…and I don’t think I’ve EVER bought a fig!

  13. That pizza looks amazing! We loving doing pizzas at home so this is going on my to try list. If you ever are in the mood to make pizza dough Alton Brown (whom I adore) has an over night refrigerator pizza dough that is really easy and takes no time (since all the waiting for dough to rise happens while you sleep).

    I love farm boxes. They really force you outside your comfort zone. Ours turned us on to Kohlrabi which is great if you can find it there. Think radish/jiccima.
    Cheers!

  14. Another great option is to purchase the raw pizza dough from Pillsbury, brush it with olive oil and add blue cheese, fontina cheese, caramelized shallots and mission figs (fresh). Bake them at 450 for 10-12 minutes and you will not regret it. You can also prep all your ingredients the night before if you are serving this to a group and don’t want to hassle with a mess. Enjoy!

  15. I recommend the Pioneer Woman pizza crust. Super easy and fast to make. I throw it in a Ziploc bag with olive oil and leave it in my fridge until I need it. Every time I make it for friends or family they ask for the recipe.

  16. I wasn’t going to chime in but with that delicious recipe I must. All of my figs turned ripe this past week. Summer just arrived here in Seattle and we are just now getting ripe fruits and veggies. I usually put blue cheese and crumbled bacon (bacon bits; don’t judge) on my fig halves and roast with a drizzle of Balsamic vinegar or choose honey to drizzle after I roast them. Trader Joe’s makes a blue cheese and walnut spead that would be tasty on the roasted figs as well. Bon appetite!

  17. We have a fig tree and I HATE it, but after reading this post I may have to give it a second thought! The only reason I haven’t cut it down is because my son likes to climb it. That pizza looks great!

  18. Oh my, I do miss having lots of fresh figs like we did where I lived as a child. I don’t think there is a fig to be had anywhere near where I live now, and certainly none in the markets. How do you think that pizza would taste using dried ones? That recipe looks so delicious…I’m feeling miserably deprived!

  19. Not that there is anything wrong with using premade crust but if you have a bread machine it is simple to make your own, the machine does all the work! We have from scratch pizza all the time and all I really have to do is remember to put the ingredients in the machine about 2 hours before we want to eat.

  20. OMG I literally read this post an hour ago and Ive just stuffed the last bite of pizza in my mouth!! Yummmmmm! I ran to the store to get the ingredients but had to substitute pear for the figs (i know…) because there were no figs to be found. I have to say, this version was pretty delicious as well! My husband told me this is at the top of his list of the pizzas I make so I will definitely be making this again….next time I hope to find that fig!

  21. Oh how funny – I just made a fig pizza last week too. Yours looks deeeelicious. If you’re interested in yet another combo, here’s a link to mine: http://rindymae.blogspot.com/2011/09/grilled-pizza-four-ways.html
    I also just came across a a recipe a few days ago that suggested cutting the figs in half, spreading on some goat cheese, wrapping them with a piece of prosciutto and baking them until the meat is crispy. Sounds like heaven to me.

  22. So I hated my fig tree but thought I would give those figs one more try! I made this tonight and it’s delicious!!!! Instead of green onions I used white onions thinly sliced. I had to used my strongest will power not to eat it all! Thanks for sharing the recipe Kate!

  23. I just made this tonight (with goat cheese instead of blue cheese). Oh, MY. This was delicious! Even my husband gobbled it up, and he usually prefers the typical greasy pizza with “the works.” Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!

  24. Made this pizza last night exactly how it shows. Well, except for the crust, which was whole wheat. It was ABSOLUTELY delish! The combo of sweet figs (used black mission from my csa box), salty prosciutto and tangy gorgonzola was splendid! I’m thinking next time I might even add some caramelized onions. Yummm!!

  25. My husband and I were out of town this weekend, so I am just now catching up on reading all the blog posts I missed…coincidentally, I am also waiting for my pizza dough to rise! Your pizza looks delicious – I hope mine tastes as good as yours looks! We use this recipe (http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=389326) which is not only easy and delicious, but healthy too! Now you have plenty of easy pizza dough recipes!

    Oh, and when you do make your own dough, I highly recommend getting a pizza stone that you can put on the grill. It makes the pizza taste more like what you would get at a restaurant – crunchy crust and all!

  26. Hi Kristen, what is a pizza stone, I followed the recipe above the finished pizza was yummy but it could have been more crunchy. Where could I get a pizza stone, i have heard before they are good as well. Also thanks for the recipe I shall try this also.

Leave a comment!

Keep the conversation going! Your email address will not be published.*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Lately on Instagram (@centsationalstyle)