Fig and Prosciutto Pizza with Spinach and Goat Cheese

The inspiration for this pizza came from one I tried at a restaurant on Cape Cod. I would have never thought to use fruit as a pizza sauce otherwise. This is one that can be a meal or an appetizer (my pictures are from Christmas when my sister asked me to bring it as an appetizer. Just substitute 3 or 4 mini pizza shells for 1 large one and cut into 1/8ths). I love eating this for dinner. It's not low-calorie but figs are high in fiber so that makes them okay in my book.

Ingredients

1 cup Black Mission Figs (dried are fine)
2 - 3 tbsps olive oil
5 cloves roasted garlic or 2 fresh
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
kosher salt and black pepper
4 oz prosciutto, chopped
10 oz box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry.
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1 premade thin style pizza crust
optional: caramelized onions, mushrooms and/or bell peppers.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chop the figs roughly and bring to a simmer in a small saucepan with a little water. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the figs begin to soften. Drain the water and reserve it for later. Put the figs, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary in a food processor. Pulse until well chopped. Slowly stream in some of the reserved fig water while pulsing. The mixture will be thick but should be easily spreadable. Add more liquid if needed. Adjust the seasonings if needed (I like mine flavored with a lot of garlic and rosemary). Line a cookie sheet or pizza pan with foil and place crust on top. Spread the fig puree onto the crust. It's very sweet so it shouldn't be too thick. If you have extra puree, you can freeze it for later use. Lay the prosciutto pieces across the pizza, covering it evenly. Do the same with the spinach and any other veggies you decide to add (no really, try caramelized onions!). Top last with the goat cheese. Bake for 10 minutes and then leave under the broiler for an additional 3 minutes. Cut in 4 pieces and serve (unless using as an appetizer).

All text and photographs © 2008, 2009 Food is to love / Andrea Quigley