Fig, Red Onion and Pancetta Pizza

Sweet figs contrast with richly-flavored caramelized onions and salty pancetta on this delicious homemade pizza!

Figs are one of those ingredients that I grab when I see them at the grocery store, and figure out what I'm going to do with them later.

I saw them at Trader Joe's while I was on The Quest for the Elusive Red Chile Pepper (read more on that this coming Wednesday): a pound of fresh black figs. I didn't find my chile peppers, but I bought those figs.

Most recipes for figs involve roasting them, wrapping them in pancetta, or eating them with goat cheese or honey. Last year, I made a cake, and a salad with figs. They were delicious (especially the salad!), but this time, I wanted to do something different, so I put them on a pizza.

I decided to pair them with pancetta, since everything is better with pancetta. But I also wanted something else savory to balance the sweetness of the figs. I chose to caramelize a red onion. Why red? Because that's what I had in my cupboard.

At the last minute, I added some chopped fresh rosemary. Ever since I tried the three-cheese, rosemary and pepperoni pizza from Smells Like Home, I've believed that every pizza should include rosemary. Did I mention I like rosemary?

Dave declared the results delicious, and I agreed. Liam? Not interested in tasting figs. He scraped everything off his slice of pizza, and pretty much just ate baked pizza dough. Oh well. More pizza for us.

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Fig, Red Onion and Pancetta Pizza

Yield: 4

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Ingredients

• 1 lb pizza dough, store-bought or homemade
• 1 inch medium red onion, cut into ¼- vertical slices
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 4 oz shredded fontina cheese
• 6 inch figs, stems removed and cut into ¼- vertical slices
• 2 ounces thinly-sliced pancetta
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes, for 45 minutes, until onions are soft and caramelized. This can be done up to a day ahead of time. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
2. Roll the pizza dough out to a 12-inch circle. Place on a pizza peel generously dusted with cornmeal.
3. Sprinkle ¾ of the fontina over the pizza dough, then arrange the figs, pancetta slices and rosemary over top. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over top.

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