Fig Jam, Asparagus & Prosciutto Pizza

Headed to wine country this weekend and I am pumped!  I love visiting small wineries, meeting the families who live and work on the vineyard and exchanging travel stories with people from all over the world.  This week's recipe pairs well with an Italian red wine such as Brunello or Barbera.
I experimented at a dinner party with the recipe swapping the tried and true tomato sauce base with fig jam.  You hit all the flavors with this pizza.  The fig is lip smacking sweet and takes the bite out of earthy asparagus.  And you can never go wrong with Parmesan and prosciutto, they love eachother.  Mangiamo amici!

Fig Jam, Asparagus & Prosciutto Pizza

Ingredients
Store bought pizza dough - whole wheat or white flour

fig jam
1 bunch asparagus
1 package prosciutto (optional for my vegetarians)
good quality Parmesan
salt
pepper
good balsamic vinegar (optional)

- Roll out the pizza dough to a rectangle or circle.
- Spread fig jam evenly across dough.
- Layer Parmesan, asparagus, and prosciutto.
- Bake at 350* for 10-15 minutes or until cheese starts to golden.
- LIGHTLY drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
- Sprinkle salt.
- Cool, cut and serve.

Destination - Salt Lake City

Hellllllllo Salt Lake,
I haven't seen you since I was a teenager.  How ya been?  Happy to see there is still snow on the ground.  Cabo San Lucas last week was just way too warm for me.  Now, I didn't bring ski clothes so please don't decide to have a blizzard.  The 2 block walk to ALT Summit would be brutal.  I'm thrilled to be here and attend ALT and the Outdoor Retailer show at the same time.  It's a little nutty, that's a lot of people and a lot of information to take in over 3 days but I'm excited.  This trip almost didn't happen.  I almost canceled everything yesterday, sick in bed for the last few days, unable to focus on a computer screen let alone a television.  Too much Cabo. 
Anyways, the flight from San Diego to Phoenix wasn't bad, met a few people on the way to Sundance Film Festival.  (Note to self - stay extra 2 days next year to join the fun).  As we are about to take off from Phoenix I realized I have no idea what hotel I'm staying at.  In true Marissa fashion I forgot to add it to my calendar, print a confirmation or even look it up before I left.  You would think I'd learn by now, I forget to book flights far too often, mix up flight departure dates, hide my passport so well I can't even find it and rarely arrive on time at the airport.  Oh well, if we ever take a trip together just make sure I'm not in charge of the paperwork.  The airport was a ghost town when I arrived at 6:30pm.  The area around my hotel was pretty sleepy too.  The cabbie and I could only discuss food because we both skipped lunch and dinner didn't seem likely.  I gave him one of my apples to tide him over.  I decided against my only option, Papa John's, but maybe I will treat myself to a grand breakfast tomorrow.  After all, it is the start of ALT.  Buona notte mi amici. 

spice things up this weekend

Stagecoach Festical, Indio, 2011

Fijian Inspired Pizza

Fijian Inspired Pizza

I call this an inspired pizza because they never actually served us a pizza in Fiji.  Well, that's a lie, we found one on the last day by accident.  After 10 days in pure sunshine and emerald green waters we said our teary goodbyes to the staff and friends we made at Qamea and hopped on a boat to Taveuni where we discovered our plane was delayed.  For 4 hours!  So we convinced Eddie, the Qamea driver to take us to a bar instead of singing Backstreet Boys to himself at the airport. 

hand written boarding passes

A few miles down the road we found ourselves at Taramosa  (The Corner).  Gorgeous views, simple wooden tables, smiley staff and a slew of pizzas????   After a vacation of grilled white fish and shrimp over shredded green papaya and local greens a cheesy pizza was American heaven.  Our friends from Houston, Texas ordered the Deluxe and Dily whipped it up from scratch.

Dily rolling out the dough

i wish every airport bar looked like this

a chef proudly displays her pizza

the finished product (the sun-dried tomatoes were key) 

TDH and I made our own version at home a few days after we flew back to LA.  We are trying to hang on to Fiji any way we can.

                                        RECIPE
Dough

-       Premade Pizza Dough from Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or your local pizza place.  Gluten-free dough will work as well.  

Toppings

-       julienne carrots, zucchini, mushrooms (or whatever you have in the fridge)

-       1-2 medium balls of mozzarella, sliced, fresh if possible

-       ½ c goat cheese

-       basil, shredded

-       avocado, thinly sliced

Peanut Sauce adapted from the kitchen of Qamea Resort and Spa, Fiji

- 1 medium onion, finely chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, crushed

- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated (use a cheese grater)

- 2 tbs peanut, toasted sesame or olive oil

- ½ c peanut butter (creamy for a smooth sauce, crunchy for a texture sauce)

- ¼ c coconut milk (unsweetened)

- 2 tbs soy sauce

- 1 tbs lemon juice (1/2 a lemon)

- 1 small chili, de-seeded and chopped or 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or less if you are a spicy baby)

- 1 tsp sugar

- salt to taste

Saute the first 3 ingredients in the oil.  Reduce heat, add peanut butter and coconut cream, blending well.  Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes.  Do not allow to boil. 

OR

If you are lazy or live in LA where it's 90*, do as we did, mix all ingredients in a re-sealable container (for the leftovers).  You can also choose this way if you want less of a onion taste in the sauce.  

Assemble the Pizza

1.     Leave dough out for 15 minutes to soften up, grease a cookie sheet and roll out to desired thickness

2.     Preheat oven to 400*

3.     Spread peanut sauce over pizza dough

4.     Spread a layer of mozzarella cheese

5.     Layer vegetables

6.     Dollop with goat cheese

7.     Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown

8.     Top with chopped basil and avocado
9.   Eat!