fig and balsamic onion pizza with blue cheese

i can't believe i haven't

told you about this recipe yet.

it's not that i make it a lot -

maybe just twice a year.

but still, it's one of the few

dishes set to repeat in

our kitchen.

it started about five years ago

when - and, i still am embarrassed

to admit this - i learned

that i could just go to the

supermarket or the local pizza place

and buy fresh dough.

how did i not know this?

i have no idea.

i told lauren, who said,

yes, i love it, i use it to

make strombolis and calzones.

hmmm, i had definitely missed

something important.

so i bought dough.

i found this recipe and together,

larry and i roasted squash,

made garlic oil

and decorated the prized dough.

the night felt like a victory -

i was proud

(better than clueless, right?).

so proud,

that i haven't made the recipe

since, but i remember most

of the moments that went down

in the kitchen of my

studio apartment that evening.

after that, i was hooked,

throwing every veggie

i had onto pieces of dough

that were so unevenly rolled

out, a circle wouldn't even

recognize them as its cousin.

i experimented with

chicken apple sausage and rosemary,

feta, spinach and tomatoes,

mixed mushrooms with goat cheese

and so many more.

but one of the only pizzas

to stick was the one i made with

fresh figs

caramelized onions

and blue cheese.

however, i'm not going to lie to you:

i have no idea how it

came to be.

for all my remembering, i cannot

think back to why i first made it,

if any mistakes were made

or what pushed me to make this

particular pizza again.

but i do know that the recipe was mine,

created by what was in my kitchen,

because the second

time around, it did not occur to

me to check my recipe book.

and, i do remember that after

i had made it a few times,

i told a friend

who texted me late one night

to say that she had made the

pizza and loved it (and i remember

that i was jealous because we had

spent the night hanging pictures

in our new apartment

and eating peanut butter

sandwiches for dinner - i knew

i was missing something good

at her house). but, i still don't

remember the beginning.

so, instead of dwelling on

the past, let me tell you about

this pizza. i've made it many

times on store bought fresh

pizza dough - i love it with

multi-grain - and a couple times

on dough that i've attempted

to make myself.

but until recently, i've never

had success making my own dough.

they were always too bready,

or not willing to stretch or roll

or so wet that i got fed up.

a recipe by giada in bon appetit

changed all that. her dough is simple

and its springy and beautiful.

so easy to roll that mine was actually round

and so easy to transport that on the

pizza pan, it was still beautiful.

her recipe called for mixing flour with

sugar and salt before adding the

yeast mixture, but i've opted to add honey

to the yeast instead. also, because

the final product is reminiscent of

focaccia, i love to add

chopped rosemary to the dough.

on top,

well, the star is the figs,

which i sometimes layer on fresh,

and other times saute very lightly first.

but a star needs its supporting characters

and this pizza is bursting with them:

onions that are caramelized until golden

and then coated with balsamic vinegar,

crumbled blue cheese to cut

through the sweetness and recently,

a light sprinkling of fontina cheese,

helping glue the whole thing down.

i've made the pizza a couple times

without the bottom cheese, but it's always

lacking and the toppings tend to

topple off the crust.

all together, it's a pizza that i'm

proud of, that gets me excited

for fig season and that makes

me happy to cut into slices

and serve. it's slightly sweet and

soft, yet tangy and crisp.

and even though its beginning

eludes me, its future on our

dinner menus is very, very clear.

fresh fig and balsamic onion pizza with blue cheese

i do not have a baking stone and therefore, have never made this pizza with one. if you do, adjust accordingly. because i make this pizza on a regular round baking pan, i like to slide it right onto the rack when it's firm enough and let the pie continue to cook until crispy. if that method does not sound good to you, just leave it on the pan. it may not get as crispy, but it will still be lovely. i like the creaminess of danish blue and the mild meltiness of the fontina, but playing around until you find your favorite is always a good idea.

rosemary pizza dough

adapted from bon appetit magazine

3/4 cup warm water (between 110˚-115˚)

1 envelope dry active yeast

1 teaspoon honey

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the bowl

place warm water in bowl; sprinkle yeast over water. add honey; stir. let stand 5 minutes, or until yeast dissolves. very lightly oil large bowl; set aside. in food processor, combine flour, salt and rosemary. add remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and yeast mixture; process just until dough forms.

transfer to a floured surface and knead 1 minute, or until smooth, adding additional flour, if necessary. place dough in bowl, rotating to coat with oil.

cover with clean tea or kitchen towel and place in a warm spot, free of drafts. let sit 1 hour, or until doubled in volume. punch down. using a floured rolling pin, roll into 14" round on floured surface. transfer to pizza pan.

fig and onion pizza

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided

1 large sweet onion, peeled, halved and sliced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

4-6 large fresh black mission figs, trimmed and sliced

1 recipe rosemary pizza dough, above

5 ounces fontina cheese, shredded

2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

• 
  
• heat oven to 425˚f. while the dough is rising, heat olive oil and half of butter in large skillet over medium heat until oil is hot and butter is melted. add onions; season with kosher salt. cook 25 minutes, or until almost golden brown, reducing heat if onions begin to burn. drizzle balsamic vinegar over onions and stir to combine. cook 1 minute more, or until the vinegar has formed a glaze; transfer onions to plate. let cool.
• 
  
• in same skillet over medium heat, melt remaining butter; add slices of figs. as soon as the last one is in the skillet, flip slices over in the order they were placed in the pan. once they're all flipped, remove and transfer to plate in the same order.
• 
  
• sprinkle shredded fontina cheese over dough, leaving a 3/4" border for the crust. arrange first the onions, then the figs, over the cheese. Top with crumbled blue cheese.
• 
  
• bake the pizza 12-14 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, the crust is beginning to brown and the whole thing is stable. Slide the pizza off the pan and cook on the middle rack 3-4 minutes more, or until the crust has some crunch to it. to remove from oven, carefully slide back onto pan.

herbed olive and walnut spread

about four and a half years ago,

i was preparing to host friends

for the weekend.

for most people,

that means

cleaning a bit,

making restaurant reservations

and maybe,

planning a meal or two

to make for their guests.

for me,

living in a studio apartment -

a place in which

i made a big production when

showing people around: this is

the living room, and then this

(pulling them two feet

closer to me) is the bedroom,

right there to the left of your foot,

that piece of floor is the

dining room -

overnight guests meant

a complete overhaul.

i mean, really. when your

guests are going to spend

the night sleeping on the floor,

an arms-length away,

there is not a space to even

hide anything.

and making dinner?

that's really out of the question.

while it may have been fine for

me to make a mess - because there

was no other choice, in my surprisingly

spacious kitchen (it's relative, you see) -

and then for larry and i to eat dinner

on the floor, it's not really the kind

of behavior you can

impose on people nice enough to point

out that you're hosting them

in shoebox.

so instead,

when i had guests, i opted

to make reservations and start

the night with appetizers that could

be made ahead of time -

four people could comfortably

sit on the love seat and two

small chairs i kept hidden

in the corner for such occasions.

and i did have a little side table.

so when our friends were

coming to stay,

i took a familiar route.

make delicious nibbles of things

so that people were so

overcome by the food,

they forgot to focus on the

fact that my mixer sat

next to the couch, like pretend art

and, that my television was

on the dresser.

it sounds silly now, but i really

did think i could distract with food.

i settled on two

spreads:

blue cheese with caramelized shallots,

and

olive and walnut.

both good, i took a particular liking

to the slightly spicy, mustardy and

herb-infused olives.

i couldn't wait

to serve them the next night.

the next night.

i got an extremely

good lesson in knowing your audience.

i set the dips out and found out that

one of them despised

both blue cheese and olives.

i didn't blame her -

if someone put a plate

of fennel in front of me,

i don't think all the

trying and politeness

in the world would help me finish,

let alone start in on it.

but, i was still bummed.

that week, i used the spread a lot

in other dishes,

deciding that even though it hadn't

been a hit with everyone,

i had still stumbled upon

something delicious.

--

my mom's friend, judy, hosts

us and a couple other families

for a gathering every september.

it's a night based on tradition:

my mom always brings the chicken,

judy always make brisket,

someone always brings a platter

of homemade chocolates from his shop

and another is responsible for the

kugel and creamed herring.

it goes on.

over the years, i had played around,

making dessert,

trying different appetizers,

but nothing stuck.

that year, i decided to test the

olive spread with another group.

it was quite well received and i

felt relieved that i finally had my thing.

it's nice.

i'm always so concerned with

finding the perfect recipe

for the situation.

i spend hours - if not days -

on the internet,

reading through my cookbooks

and weighing out my options.

it's more than a relief to have

one thing that is on auto pilot.

but more than that,

this is a recipe worth making

over and over. it is quite

simple, especially with two

new additions:

1) i have upgraded from a

mini food processor

to a standard so that i can now

make everything in

one batch instead

of three.

2) two years ago, i finally gave in

and purchased pitted olives

instead of pitting my own.

so worth it.

but even with those original

handicaps, this recipe was nothing

to get nervous about.

thanks to the walnuts and spices,

it will always be very good and simple.

the crunch of the nuts

give the otherwise smooth dish,

welcome texture and obviously, a nuttiness

that plays well against

the briny olives.

over the years, i've taken to adding

more mustard and herbs, which

i think is worth it to make the

whole thing pop.

oh, a couple things about the herbs.

i've switched to dried because as

much as i'm a fan of fresh, it's hard

to rationalize buying a huge bunch

for 1 teaspoon-worth -

and, i'm the kind of person

who typically keeps away

from anything marked herbed

out of fear of intense herbiness.

but in this case, they are still

a background note -

and one that works beautifully.

i've also upped the cayenne because

i like the idea of a very slight

gentle heat at the end of each bite.

ultimately, this really is

a very simple food processor recipe,

so nothing is stopping you from

tweaking here and there until

it's adjusted to suit you perfectly.

i secretly always wish for leftovers

because the spread is perfect

with tomatoes on bread

and more recently, i've used it to mimic

a very memorable dish

that i enjoyed in charleston a few years ago:

hot pasta, tossed with tapenade,

goat cheese and a few splashes of pasta water.

once, i mixed all three together before adding

to the pasta, but i realized that the restaurant

had been right, there's something delicious

about an occasional bite having only

goat cheese or only the olives.

so now, i add dollops of each to the pasta,

then mix. it makes the whole thing

taste hand-crafted.

last week, i made the spread

for the sixth time and i absolutely

like it as much now as i did the

first time i served it.

everyone else seems to, too.

oh, and when larry and i moved

in together, i felt instantly

spoiled with space.

we put a table in our dining room

(i had a dining room!)

and the mixer on the kitchen counter.

we got a bookshelf.

it's amazing what you can be grateful for.

we invited the same couple back,

made neutral appetizers,

and ate dinner and dessert -

which everyone seemed to enjoy -

at that treasured table

and that night, we gave them their

very own room to sleep in.

they even had a door.

herbed olive and walnut spread

adapted from pane caldo in chicago, via bon appetit magazine

by all means, buy the pitted olives, but do yourself two huge favors. first, make sure you buy beautiful purple olives and not the greenish-brown ones - the color makes this dish. also, even if you buy the pitted, take the time to check each before they go in the food processor. the process is never perfect and a pit could slip by (sorry, alan!). i always double the recipe, so that's what i'm giving you here, but it can obviously, be easily halved. also, as always, make it, taste and adjust. personally, i like flavors prominent, so i've increased the quantities of everything.

3 1/2 cups pitted kalamata olives (about 1 pound), rinsed and drained well

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted and divided

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons coarse-grained mustard

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

in bowl of food processor, finely chop olives and 6 tablespoons toasted walnuts. add olive oil, mustard, garlic, thyme oregano, sage and cayenne pepper; blend to combine. taste and adjust. transfer olive mixture to bowl; stir in remaining walnuts. cover and chill until serving.

i like to serve this with pita triangles, grape tomatoes and sliced zucchini and squash. the original recipe called for slices of a baguette.