Pizza Time!

Roasted Garlic and Prosciutto Pizza

 The other night RJ and I had homemade pizza, and it was so good, I'm going to share it's magic.  This recipe was a result of Pioneer Woman and I putting our brains together and collaborating.  She wasn't actually with me per se, but I used her recipe for inspiration, so it's practically the same thing.

The idea started when I made this pizza because I was missing Reginelli's so much.  If you are in New Orleans go to Reginelli's for me and order the pesto shrimp pizza, or the pesto tortellini, or both... and tell them hi for me.  Kthanks.  Anyway, I made the pizza and it was good.  RJ said it reminded him of his favorite pizza from Pagliacci's in Seattle that had roasted garlic and prosciutto on it.  And I thought to myself, "I could make that".  So I did.

 ***Sorry in advance for the horrible quality and lighting of these pictures.... apparently I was cooking in the dark?  Next time I'm going to actually look at the photos after I take them.


I started by roasting the garlic which I had no idea how to do, but I googled it, and turns out- it's really easy.  What did people do before Google?  I Google things like 10 times a day.

Take a whole head of garlic and peel off the outside papery layer.  (The garlic should still be in its shell, just the paper layer comes off).  Cut off the top of the garlic, about 1/4 of an inch.

Put it in a dish or a pan... I thought a muffin tin would hold it quite nicely.  Pour olive oil into the dish, and on top of the garlic.  Make sure the oil gets between the cloves.  The garlic should be surrounded by oil, but not swimming in it.  

Cover in foil and roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. 

It's done when it feels squishy to the touch.  Let it cool, and then the garlic should just pop right out of its "shell".  This would be amazing to spread on bread and serve with olive oil.

Meanwhile... my "Cast of Characters" is getting ready for the pizza part.  2 things: 1) Yes, I totally just ripped off Pioneer Woman with that "Cast of Characters" thing.  But we collaborated on this recipe remember?  So I'm sure it's cool.  And she probably doesn't sue bloggers that only have like 2 followers... :)  And 2... Yes, that IS Pillsbury pizza dough you see, and YES you should judge me.  Pillsbury pizza dough is not very good, and this is coming from someone who LOVES Pillsbury crescent rolls.  (They're delicious).  But the pizza dough?  Not so much.  Don't be like me and use this dough.  It's the one thing that held this pizza back from being truly AMAZING.  I'm waiting to purchase one of these little beauties and then I will make my own.  Until then I'm on the hunt to find a great pizza place where I can buy some delicious dough.  And the wine in the background?  Not going in the pizza, but Mama Lund taught me that you should always drink wine while cooking.  And I completely agree.

Spread out the dough and sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top.  (I also added a few drops of olive oil with the sprinkle of cheese, but since the next step is to spread pesto, I think that may have been unnecessary).  Spread the pesto on top of the parmesan cheese, and then put the roasted garlic on top.  I kept the garlic whole, but I bet it would be good if you smashed it up, and used it as a spread.  Another thing I would advise you to do differently?  Use a pizza stone, not a cookie sheet.  But this little baby hasn't arrived yet, so I made due with the baking sheet.  ***Thanks for the awesome wedding gift Matt and Britt!! We are so excited!   

Cut up fresh mozzarella into slices, and layer on top of the pesto and garlic.

Behind the scenes you should be multi-tasking and caramelizing red onions.  Pioneer Woman suggested adding a spoonful of brown sugar to them to help them brown up, and add a touch of sweetness.  I was a little skeptical, but she has 2 best-selling cookbooks, so who am I to question?  I added a small spoonful of brown sugar to the onions, and by gosh, it did improve the taste!  They browned perfectly, and had just a perfect hint of sweetness.   That Pioneer Woman, she's so smart.  I'm lucky she's collaborating with me!

Put the onions on top of the mozzarella. Yikes, these pictures are terrible.  My bad.

Add the prosciutto

Brush the crust with olive oil.

Bake at 425 for 25 minutes!  

This pizza was incredible.  Even RJ, who is the King of "You know what might make this better?" (although don't worry, I think last night's Fajita meltdown of 2012 might be quickly curing him of that habit), didn't have any suggestions for improvement.  He said it was perfect, Pillsbury pizza dough and all.  You should definitely make this and then tell me what you think!

Ingredient List:

I head of garlic
Pizza dough
Pesto- enough to spread over dough
Paremsean cheese
Red Onion
Brown Sugar (Optional)
Mozzarella Cheese
Prosciutto
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt