Arugula Topped Prosciutto Pizza with Basalmic Drizzle

I went to the garden recently and seemingly overnight the arugula has started to bolt.   Besides just mixing it in with some other salad greens, I have only featured my garden arugula in one other recipe, Peppery Perfect Pasta Salad.

It was time to think fast.  I remembered that my BiL loves arugula and besides enjoying it on sandwiches, his favorite way to use it is as a pizza topping.

I know this is not a salad, but it is a salad-topped pizza.  Consider this the next installment of my ironically titled Salad-a-Day.

Eliot's Eats

Arugula Topped Prosciutto Pizza with Basalmic Drizzle
Based on Arugula-Prosciutto Pizza

4 T. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. fresh rosemary, chopped
sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
prepared pizza dough for 1 crust (For a dough recipe, click here.)
3 oz. Prosciutto
8 oz. fresh mozzarella pearls
3-4 c. arugula, torn
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice
shaved Parmesan for garnish
Balsamic reduction for drizzle (see recipe below)

Combine olive oil, garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper.  Set aside.  Let sit for at least thirty minutes.)

Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Roll out dough.  Using a pizza peel, slide dough onto hot pizza stone.  Bake for 5-7 minutes until crust starts to firm up but isn’t yet browned.

Skim off 2 T. of the olive oil mixture, leaving the good stuff, garlic and herbs, at the bottom.  Remove pizza from oven and rush the garlic and herb mixture on the crust.  (You will use the reserved olive oil for the arugula topping dressing.)

Top pizza with Prosciutto slices and mozzarella pearls.  Return to oven and bake for 5-7 more minutes.  The cheese should be melted.

While the pizza is baking, combine the lemon juice and the reserved olive oil.  Whisk to combine.   Toss the arugula and shallot with the dressing.

Remove pizza from oven.  Top with the arugula salad, add Parmesan shavings, and drizzle with balsamic reduction (recipe below).   Season with fresh ground pepper.  Serve.

Note that my oven was on the fritz recently so we grilled this pizza.  The same instructions apply, however when grilling pizza, I always place the dough on a pizza stone made for the grill and I cook the dough on one side for about 5 minutes before flipping it over and then adding toppings to the cooked side.

Eliot's Eats

The balsamic reduction comes from a long ago cooking class at a local winery.

Balsamic Reduction (100 Year Old Fake Balsamic)
from Chef Jennifer

1/4 cup regular balsamic vinegar
1 T.  brown sugar

Whisk together these two ingredients in a small sauce pan.  Heat to a simmer and stir often.
Reduce by half and “you will have a glaze that tastes like 100 year old balsamic.”

 

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