Whipped Ricotta Pizza. Grilled to get a crispy, crunchy smoky bottom to contrast with the softness of the whipped ricotta and roasted figs. We are grilling everything this time of year. And summer time is just jam packed with dips, chips, barbecued everything, and rich desserts. I made a mid-year resolution to heat only healthy, low calorie, low carb food. And that resolution lasted EXACTLY one day. On my Instagram I posted a gem of a salad bowl topped with grilled salmon and sat back and rested on my clean-eating laurels.
As I said, 24 hours later I was done with the self-rightousness. At least for now. Because all I could think about, all I wanted, was another one of my grilled pizzas. And it had to be white because as everyone knows, pizza with red sauce is just not my jam. Or not my anything else for that matter. But give me a white pizza, give me some salty prosciutto and some fresh figs and I am just so happy.
The fresh figs this time of year are inspiring:
So you have to act quickly to make all of the fig pizzas you possibly can because by the time you conjure up the recipes in your head, poof! the figs are gone. I am a big fan of whipped ricotta. It is so much more tasty that the pasty stuff that comes out of the carton. Add some goat cheese and whoosh it around in your Nutribullet and you will not believe how light, fluffy and flavorful it gets. It holds its own on the pizza crust and happily it doesn’t run all over the place. When you compose those layers of sweet and savory, when you roast those figs in a high temp oven, and when all that matters is getting the hot, gooey piece in your mouth, that is when you know you have hit the home run of pizza making.
Have fun with this. More fig pizzas to follow shortly as I am becoming a bit crazy over them.
Whipped Ricotta and Goat Cheese Pizza with Honey Balsamic Roasted Figs
Ingredients
For the Honey Balsamic Roasted Figs:
- 3 8 ounce packages fresh figs each sliced into 3 slices
- 1/8 cup honey
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
For the Pizza:
- ½ pound homemade or purchased pizza dough
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
For the Whipped Ricotta:
- 15 ounces whole milk ricotta
- 4 ounces goat cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or more if you like it spicy
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Final assembly:
- ¾ cup grated Fontina cheese
- ½ cup grated Taleggio cheese
- 6 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
- 8 ounces Burrata cheese
- arugula for garnish
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 450 degrees to make the roasted figs.
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Preheat grill to 500 degrees and place pizza stone or tiles on the grill. Heat for at least 40 minutes.
For the Balsamic Roasted Figs:
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Make the figs by combining the honey and vinegar in a large heatproof cup (it will bubble up) and heating in the microwave for two minutes until reduced.
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Mix the balsamic vinegar mixture with the figs in a medium sized bowl.
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On a parchment lined baking sheet scatter the figs and roast in the oven for 5-8 minutes until softened.
For the Pizza:
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On a lightly floured surface, roll or pat the dough out into a 12 inch round. If the dough is very elastic, let it rest of five minutes and then try again until you can achieve the desired size.
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Combine the olive oil and garlic in small bowl.
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Brush the top of the pizza dough with some of the garlic oil and transfer the pizza to the hot pizza stone. Reserve the remaining garlic oil.
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Place the dough on the stones, close the grill top and cook the pizza for 3 minutes or until it just browns on the bottom. Immediately transfer the pizza dough to a parchment lined baking sheet. The pizza can be made ahead to this point and set aside at room temperature for a few hours.
For the Whipped Ricotta:
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When ready to cook the pizza, combine in a blender or NutriBullet all of the ingredients for the whipped ricotta. Add the remaining garlic oil and blend until the ricotta mixture is whipped and smooth, about a minute. Stir once and blend again for 20 seconds until everything is well blended.
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Reduce the grill temperature to 400 degrees so the bottom of the pizza does not burn. Open the grill to bring the temperature down.
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To assemble the pizza, spread the whipped ricotta mixture all over the cooked pizza dough. Top with the figs. Sprinkle the fontina and taleggio over the pizza and top with the prosciutto. Break the burrata into chunks with your fingers and dollop evenly over the pizza.
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Slide the pizza back onto the heated pizza stones. Close the grill and cook the pizza for about 5 minutes, making sure that the bottom crust does not burn. Remove the pizza from the grill and serve topped with the arugula.
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