Fig Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese

First off, you should know these are not really figs. They are wigs. Because when my roommates first picked them off the neighbor's tree, the name was their way around the law (that doesn't really exist).

More importantly, one of them invented this wondrous combination of sliced sweet figs with creamy goat cheese, sweet-savory caramelized onions, nutty walnuts, and the magical aroma of rosemary. And most importantly, late summer is the time to make this happen because that's when you find figs in season.

Last year, I found myself in a particular conundrum. The brilliant creator of the fig pizza had moved out. No fig pizza was just appearing in my oven. So I had to take matters into my own hands.

It just so happened to be on a night where no one was home after a season of spending lots of time with people. And can I tell you how wondrous it was to create a fig pizza alone (since I had to do it myself and all)? It might not be exactly to the creator's specifications, but I still found it brilliantly delicious. And it brought me back to the day of the wigs, and all the subsequent pizza baking that was shared with their harvesters.

And it got dark outside, and my kitchen lighting killed the photo compared to the others.

 Cheers to fig pizzas that are almost as wondrous as the memories that are paired with them!

Fig Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese

Olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
1 ball of refrigerated pizza crust dough (I get mine in the bakery department at Publix.)
Balsamic vinegar
Fresh mozzarella cheese
Goat cheese, crumbled
6-10 figs, sliced thinly
Walnuts, chopped
Rosemary, fresh or dried

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium sized pan over medium heat. Add onion slices, stirring often until caramelized.

While the onion cooks, roll out the pizza dough onto a floured surface and spread on a pizza pan.

Spread a thin layer of olive oil over the crust and then a thinner layer of balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle cheeses around on top of oil and vinegar until most of the crust is covered. Arrange fig slices to cover most of the cheese, leaving a ring around the outside of the pizza clear of figs. I like to start in the middle and arrange them in circles, one outside the next. Sprinkle walnut pieces around figs. I like to nestle them in the cracks around the figs. Sprinkle rosemary on top. Once onions are cooked to desired state (I like the quite browned so the flavor really pops), spread them around the outside of the figs.

Bake according to pizza dough instructions. Mine was 18-25 minutes at 400 degrees followed by five minutes of setting before slicing.