Fig and Gorgonzola Pizza

Good morning! It’s Recipe Thursday, which thankfully means it’s almost Friday! Has this week been a long one for anyone else? Man, oh man.

In celebration of the almost-weekend, I’d like to share one of my favorite new recipes with you. It’s really easy (I used store-bought dough because Trader Joe’s whole wheat dough rocks my socks) and super delicious. Perfect for a date night or girls’ night in (maybe for the Grey’s Anatomy premiere and a bottle of wine? cough cough). I originally divided the pizza in half to make two versions (one with tomato sauce and one without), but the recipe below is for version with. Something about the tomato sauce and the sweetness of the figs together just tickled my fancy. To make the sauce-less version in the pictures, just omit the sauce and brush the dough with olive oil during that step.

Ingredients

1 pkg. Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough
4 Tbsp. Homemade Heirloom Tomato Marinara
6-8 fresh figs, sliced
Crumbled gorgonzola cheese
1 handful fresh arugula

The trick to the Trader Joe’s dough is to let it sit out for at least 20 minutes at room temperature (as the directions suggest). Then, when you roll it out the first time, let it sit again out flat. This really helps with the springiness of the dough. Once it has relaxed a bit again and you can tell it shrunk a bit, roll it out the rest of the way.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 375 degrees, slice your figs and crumble enough gorgonzola to your taste. You can use more or less, but I love gorgonzola cheese so I can’t get enough of it.

This is only half of the number of figs you’ll want to have if you use the full package of dough. You want plenty to cover your pizza adequately.

Spread marinara on your dough thinly. If you put it on too thick, your dough won’t be able to support the weight. You can also use your favorite jarred pizza sauce or marinara if you’d like or no sauce at all.

No, I’m not very good at rolling out my dough evenly. I was going for a rectangle, but I guess it was kind of a fail. Oh well.

Place your pizza in the oven to let the crust begin to cook. Again, this prevents the dough from buckling under the toppings. Once your dough begins to set (around 10 minutes), top with figs and a thin layer of sauce (see right of the picture), then top with gorgonzola. If you aren’t using sauce, brush your figs with a thin layer of olive oil so they don’t burn.

Place your pizza back in the oven so your figs warm through and your cheese begins to melt (around 10 more minutes). Remove from the oven and top with arugula.

Yep, I confusingly reversed the pan for this picture, oops. Slice up your pizza and enjoy! Happy Thursday, friends!

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• Vegan Gluten-Free Spinach & Mushroom Pizza
• Heirloom Tomato Marinara
• Vegetarian Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash
• Healthy Tomato “Sandwich”
• Baked Curry & Rosemary Sweet Potato Fries