Pizza Pebble Beach Style

Hello Friends!

First off, thank you so much for your comments yesterday!  You all made me feel better and it was good to hear that I was not the only one having a bad day.  I was also glad that I was able to provide encouragement.  Funny how that works :)

Back in September, Gerard and I went to Monterey for our 3 year anniversary.  During that trip, we ate at some pretty good, local places.  Our first day their, Gerard surprised me by taking me to Pebble Beach and we ate at their new restaurant The Bench.  O.M.G.  This place was amazing.  Not only were we sitting outside on a gorgeous day, we were overlooking the 18th hole.  

Just look at that view!

Loved this area.  We came back the next night for drinks here and they bring you blankets at night!

The menu had so many delicious items and we choose a Gorgonzola, pancetta, arugula and fig pizza.  Now I know that fig does not seem like it should belong on pizza, let me convince you that it does!  The Gorgonzola has such an intense flavor and the fig sweetens the pizza.

Love the table set up

I forgot about the side of mac and cheese... DELISH!

Champagne and pizza always go together!

This past weekend, I was feeling creative and decided to recreate the pizza and WOW!  It turned out so well and was so easy to make!

Saturday, I headed off to Trader Joe's to gather all my ingredients.  I got their pre-made pizza dough in a bag, prosciutto instead on pancetta, Gorgonzola and Feta cheese, figs and arugula.  Maybe a bottle of champagne too, just to keep things fancy.

I took the pizza dough out of the bag, rolled it in flour and let it rise for about 30 minutes.  While that rose, I cut the figs in half, tore the prosciutto into pieces, washed the arugula and poured myself a glass of champagne. 

Make sure you put a lot of flour on the dough, it is quite sticky!

I never knew how much I actually like figs!

After letting the dough sit,  I rolled it out about 12 inches in diameter, and poured the Gorgonzola and Feta cheese on top.  I added Feta cheese to the mix because Gerard doesn't love the strong flavor of the Gorgonzola and I thought it would help soften the blow.

I just covered the bottom, you can add as much or as little as you want

Did I mention that this pizza does not have a sauce at all?  When the cheese melts, it basically acts like a sauce anyways.

Then I just added the prosciutto and figs and threw it in the oven for about 10 minutes.  At about 8 minutes, I added the arugula on top of the pizza and let it cook another 2 minutes. 

Talk about anticipation!

I took the pizza out of the oven, let it cool.  It took a lot of will power not to cut into it right away but once it was cooled, I cut into that baby and YUMM!  Success!

I forgot to take a picture before diving into the pizza

I highly suggest you trying this sometime.  It may be risky for some of you but definitely worth trying!