BARRY SAYS: To me, there is nothing better than a meal made from things you take out of your own yard, whether off a tree, a bush or out of the ground. Fresh fruits and vegetables are healthier, and they taste better. So it was doubly pleasing to discover that the fig bush that my late father-in-law had planted on his property was teeming with fruit. It never yielded any figs last year and not many the year before. It must the high temperatures and no rain because the tree was full this past weekend.
KELLEY SAYS: We stopped by just to check it out and managed to pick two or three pounds worth to take home – and that didn’t count the ones we stuffed in our mouths. Once home, we started thinking about what to do with them. Fig jam, figs on crostinis, prosciutto-wrapped figs, figgy focaccia, figs with pasta, a fig-and-bourbon cocktail? There are plenty of options and all of them sounded good, but we decided on pizza. Two kinds of pizza, actually.
BARRY: The obvious path was a dessert or something sweet anyway because these figs were perfectly ripe and delicious, but we don’t eat a lot of sweets, so pizza sounded good.
KELLEY: We made the pies using the Pisa Pizza (the former pizza place on the North Shore) crust recipe we’ve written about before and made two 12-inch thin-crust pizzas. You could just as easily use naan bread or ready-made crusts from a local pizzeria or grocery. Neither of us is skilled at hand-tossing pizza dough, so our pies are more abstract than round, but they taste the same.
The first pie was Mediterranean-themed with yellow pepper, red onion, black olives, oregano, feta, basil, grape tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. The second featured prosciutto, caramelized onions, blue cheese, butter lettuce and an olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette.
BARRY: Both were good, but we favored the second. All the flavors were there and they worked perfectly together. The salt in the prosciutto and the blue cheese was a perfect counterpoint to the sweetness of the figs.
KELLEY: The vinaigrette with the lettuce also was a nice complement to all the other flavors.
The Mediterranean
12 figs halved or quartered
1/4 cup yellow pepper chopped
1/8 cup red onion diced
14 heirloom grape tomatoes, halved
12 kalamata or black olives, halved
1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano
1 cup feta cheese
1 cup mozzarella
6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Lemon zest
Pepper to taste
Blend the onions with the peppers in a small bowl and set aside. Roll out the dough and place on a pizza pan. We made two 12-inch thin-crust pies. Begin placing ingredients (hold the basil) evenly around the pie. Pepper to taste. Place in 500-degree oven or as hot as you can get it for about 10 minutes or until crust is done. Remove from oven and add the basil and sprinkle olive oil over the top.
Figs and Prosciutto Pie
12 figs halved or quartered
3 slices of prosciutto
2 yellow onions, sliced and caramelized
1/3 cup blue cheese
1 pinch fresh rosemary
7-10 leaves of butter lettuce
Pepper to taste
Olive oil
Vinaigrette, recipe below
Place the figs, prosciutto, blue cheese and onions evenly around the dough. Bake at 500 degrees or as hot as you can get it for 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes. Tear the lettuce into small pieces and place on the pie. Sprinkle the vinaigrette over the top.
Vinaigrette
1/2 tablespoon of Kitchen Creole, or equivalent, Bordeaux Mountain seasoning spice
1 teaspoon balsamic vinaigrette
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Mix in a small bowl and set aside.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.