Crisp on the outside, light and airy in the middle, focaccia makes an excellent pizza crust. So when the ready-made foccacia bread sample arrived at my front door, I knew what I would be doing with it. Making a pizza; and just in time for our August 5 Star Makeover event, which just happens to be….you guessed it, pizza!
Thanks to our hosts, once again for bringing us together with a theme that gets us all creating. I hope you will check their blogs on Friday, where the roundup of recipes will be featured. I know I can’t wait to see what’s out there!
Virginia earthquake sidebar:
Foccacia Bread Pizza with Fig Onion Jam, Lamb Sausage, and Blue Cheese
Pizza:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound lamb Italian style sausage (in casing), sliced into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 (8×14-inch) loaf store bought or home made foccacia bread
1 recipe Fig Onion Jam (recipe follows)
6-7 ounces blue cheese (my favorite is Pointe Reyes)
1 cup baby arugula
For pizza:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add lamb sausage and cook 2 minutes; turn sausage and cook an additional 2 minutes on second side. Drain sausage on paper towel lined plate.
Spoon about 3/4 cup of fig onion jam over the top of the foccaccia bread, leaving a 1/2-inch border for crust. Sprinkle blue cheese over fig jam. Fan sausage over blue cheese. Place pizza directly on oven rack in preheated oven. Bake 12-14 minutes, until cheese has melted, and crust is golden brown. remove pizza from oven, sprinkle with baby arugula, and cut into squares.
Makes 4 entree servings or 8 appetizer serving
Fig and Onion Jam:
2 pounds figs
2 cups port wine
2 sprigs rosemary
2 large sweet onions (such as Vidalia), thinly sliced (should yield 7 cups)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
For Fig and Onion Jam:
Slice the stems off the figs and cut them in half lengthwise. Place the figs in a medium saucepan and cover with port (should come half way up figs). Cook on low heat until the liquid has reduced down almost completely. Mash figs with a spoon until broken into a rough paste.; cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onions; season with salt and pepper, and cook until they start to caramelize, stirring occasionally. Once the onions have browned, remove from stove and let cool. When both fig paste and onions are cool, mix them together and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
An excellent pizza! The combination of fig onion jam, lamb sausage, and blue cheese sounds fantastic!
The earthquake yesterday was definitely very strange, made for an adventurous first day at my new job
I’m glad to hear that you and your daughters are ok after the earthquake!
What a beautiful pizza, Fig and lamb sound like a fantastic combo! And you are a lucky lady indeed with a baker for a neighbor!
This is wonderful! Can the Fig Onion Jam be canned in a waterbath? I would love to make it for gifts. Thanks!
Glad you and your family are OK…
Your pizza is just gorgeous and that jam sounds amazing!
I am in Maryland and felt the earthquake … and I can’t imagine panicking and jumping off of anything, much less an escalator!! Wow, that’s crazy. Anyway – love this pizza, and I can think of so many uses for that delicious fig jam!!
Oh Debi – what an inspired combination of flavors! Excellent contribution to the Cooking Club.
Glad everyone is Ok after the EQ, living in SoCal, we certainly can relate to the anxiety.
I was visiting in Chicago last year when an EQ struck in the middle of the night there. I woke up thinking “earthquake? where am I?”
Ah, there always have been and will be powers beyond our control. Earthquakes are reminder I think.
LL
Foccacia bread makes an excellent crust, especially topped with inspired ingredients like fig onion jam, lamb sausage, and blue cheese! So glad you and your family are OK – it was very frightening for a lot of people who have never experienced an earthquake.
SO glad you’re safe, Deb!! I’m so delighted by this recipe of yours – figs and lamb sausage – so brilliant.
I just made fig jam! However, it wasn’t with onions so I don’t know if would taste good with this recipe. I’ll just have to make some more.
That certainly must have been scary being in a mall when the quake happened. Lucky you had some experience and didn’t panic.
Love the new look here
Debi, I love that you made your pizza on foccacia bread–Yumm! The fig and onion jam sounds incredible, especially with the lamb. Congrats on your spot in Everyday Food Magazine. How exciting!
This looks absolutely superb! What an explosion of flavors and textures, can’t wait to try it! – S
Glad you are safe. I’m from the DC/VA area and was worried for my parents… We on the other hand, had fantastic weather in GA! Go figure. So…. how funny that we made similar pizzas! Only I wasn’t able to get mine up on time…. Will however publish it tomorrow. Great minds think alike. I love the blue cheese in this one…. Figs took mine over the top! Well, and one other ingredient, really! I’d love to bite yours! Actually, I’ll just make it!
Glad to know you and your family are okay!
I like your fig onion jam. I can see myself putting this on a toast, pizza, or anything for breakfast or brunch and maybe dinner too. Blue cheese and arugula are great choices!
Totally loving your jam with all that port wine! And this pizza,yum. No appetizer sized piece for me will do, I would definitely eat this as a meal
I make fig jam with figs,garlic and honey…I will add carmalized onions to it…sounds great…having friends from NJ for dinner end of this month…all Italian and I am sure they will love this…maybe on garlic toasted bread!