Here we go. Another pizza recipe. I love my pizza. And I especially love it when I make it at home.
This time I made Roasted Brussels Sprout and Prosciutto Pizza with Dates, Walnuts and Gorgonzola. It was inspired by Famoso.
You may remember them from such posts as Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes. This time the inspiration comes from their Cavoletti pizza - a white pizza (no tomato sauce) that I first tried many years ago on their seasonal menu. I thought "this combination of toppings is so unusual that it just might be delicious."
I was right, and it must have been particularly popular because now it is part of their regular menu. And I've been making it at home ever since.
This pizza is great if you have leftover Brussels sprouts, as it is best if they're roasted before putting them on the pizza.
If you don't happen to have any leftovers hanging around, you can quickly and easily make roasted Brussels sprouts while you're waiting for your dough to rise.
If you really want to skip this step, just peel off the individual leaves of the sprouts, toss with a little olive oil and pepper, and put them straight onto the pizza raw.
No other prep work is needed for the other toppings, aside from some light chopping of the dates.
One of the drawbacks to this pizza (compared to other homemade pizzas) is that it does require a multi-step cooking process.
After much trial and error making this pizza over the years, I learned that the toppings cook much more quickly than the dough, and some of the toppings cook more quickly than others.
So the first few times, I ended up with cooked crust and burnt toppings (or raw crust and perfectly cooked toppings). After that, I began partially cooking the crust before adding the toppings, but I was still ending up with burnt walnuts and dates (and there's not much worse than burnt nuts).
So I started adding the walnuts and dates at the very end and cooking them only for a minute or two. Now everything ends up perfectly cooked every time.
Nutrition Notes:
The recipe makes two medium sized pizzas. The nutrition information above is for a serving of one quarter of one of the pizzas, or two smallish pieces.
As for many pizzas, the calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium are on the higher side for a portion of this size.
I would recommend supplementing it with a green salad lightly dressed with vinaigrette. On the plus side, it is probably one of the few pizzas you will find with 7g of fiber per serving.
Roasted Brussels Sprout and Prosciutto Pizza with Dates, Walnuts and Gorgonzola
Ingredients
- 1 recipe pizza dough homemade or store bought
- 2 cups roasted Brussels sprouts halves leftover is fine
- 8 slices prosciutto
- 1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue cheese
- 1 cup walnuts halves or pieces
- 12 dates chopped
- honey
Instructions
- Move oven rack to lower middle position. Place a baking stone on oven rack and heat oven to 500°F.
- Cut pizza dough into two equal pieces. Cover half the dough with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside. You will only be working with one piece at a time.
- Roll or stretch one piece of the dough as thin as possible. I like to roll it between two sheets of parchment, which makes it easier to transfer to the oven. Dock the dough by poking holes all over the dough with a fork. Transfer the dough (on the bottom piece of parchment, if using) to the preheated baking stone. Partially cook the crust, about 5 minutes.
- Carefully slide crust (and parchment, if using) onto a rimless baking sheet or cutting board. Evenly spread half the Brussels sprouts, prosciutto and Gorgonzola over the crust. Slide pizza back onto the baking stone and continue to cook until Gorgonzola begins to melt and crust begins to brown, about 5 more minutes.
- Slide pizza back onto the baking sheet or cutting board. Top with half of the walnuts and dates. Return to oven just to warm through the walnuts and dates, 1-2 more minutes. Remove pizza from oven. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Drizzle pizza with honey, cut and serve.
- Repeat with remaining dough and ingredients.
Nutrition Disclaimer: I try my best to make sure the nutrition information I provide is accurate to provide you with the best information possible. However, due to ingredient discrepancies and other factors, the above nutrition information should be considered an estimation only.
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