Caramelized Onion, Asian Pear and Goat Cheese Pizza with Thyme

Thanks again to Michael for making the fantastic pizza dough!

Caramelized Onion, Asian Pear and Goat Cheese Pizza with Thyme
Ashley Covelli

4 yellow onions, sliced thin
salt and pepper
olive oil
a sprinkle of sugar
3 small Asian pears, sliced
2-3 ounces goat cheese, softened
4 sprigs fresh thyme

Heat a skillet over medium heat and coat with oil. Add onions and cook slowly to caramelize. Season with salt and pepper and a sprinkle of sugar after 10 minutes. Add half of the thyme leaves. Keep stirring until the onions get a nice rich caramel color.

Prepare pizza dough and spread onions on top, drizzling more olive oil on top. Bake for 5 minutes and then add pears on top. Bake until the crust is golden. Add chunks of softened goat cheese and sprinkle with more fresh thyme. Add a final drizzle of olive oil and enjoy!

Thai Chicken Pizza

From FoodNetwork.com: Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meals

Ingredients
1 pizza dough, any brand
1/2 cup duck sauce or plum sauce
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 package (2 cups) shredded provolone or Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 rounded tablespoonful peanut butter
2 teaspoons hot sauce
2 teaspoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning) eyeball it
4 chicken breast cutlets, 1/2 pound
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1/4 seedless cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
4 scallions, chopped
1 cup bean spouts, a couple of handfuls
Palm full cilantro leaves, chopped
1/4 cup chopped peanuts, 2 ounces
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Form pizza crust on pizza pan or cookie sheet. Top with duck or plum sauce – spread it around like you would pizza sauce. Sprinkle the pizza with some crushed red pepper flakes then top with cheese and peppers. Bake until golden and bubbly, 15 to 17 minutes.

Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Combine vegetable oil, soy sauce and peanut butter with hot sauce and grill seasoning. Use the microwave to loosen up peanut butter if it is too cold to blend into sauce, 10 seconds ought to do it. Add chicken and coat evenly with mixture. Let stand 10 minutes then grill chicken cutlets 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until firm. Slice chicken into very thin strips.

While chicken cooks, mix honey and vinegar and add the cucumber. Turn to coat evenly.

Top the hot, cooked pizza with chicken, scallions, sprouts and cilantro. Drain cucumbers and scatter over the pizza. Garnish pizza with peanuts, cut into 8 wedges and serve.

Jerk Chicken Pizza

Jerk Chicken Spice Blend
Adapted from Suite101.com

Notes

I split the marinade into two parts- one half was used to marinate the chicken overnight. I took the other half and added a small can of tomato paste to make a pizza sauce to spread on the dough. If I were to ever try this again I would probably leave out the tomato paste as it seemed to add more acidity to the jerk sauce which was already quite acidic from the vinegar, orange juice and peppers.

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbl. ground allspice
  • 1 Tbl. ground thyme
  • 1 ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 1 ½ tsp. ground black pepper
  • 1 ½ tsp. ground sage
  • ¾ tsp. ground nutmeg
  • ¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
  • ¾ tsp. minced ginger
  • 2 Tbls. fresh garlic (crushed)
  • 1 Tbls. brown sugar or molasses
  • ¼ C. Soy sauce
  • ¼ C. dark rum (optional, but encouraged)
  • ¾ C. white vinegar
  • ½ C. orange juice
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 2 Scotch bonnet peppers (I used 1 seeded jalapeno and 1 seeded cherry pepper)
  • 3 green onions, diced
  • 1 C. white onion, diced

Directions

  1. Put all the ingredients in a blender and whiz until smooth.
  2. Place chicken in a large freezer bag and pour in spice blend. Place in a bowl to make sure there isn’t any leakage and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but up to a day is preferable.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees or grill. If using an oven, place chicken skin side up on a roasting pan and roast until cooked through (about 45 minutes) flipping once halfway through the process. If using a grill, place chicken skin-side down and grill until skin becomes crisp. Flip and finishing cooking thoroughly. Don’t be afraid to blacken the chicken with this recipe.