Let Them Eat Healthy: Bacon, Blue Cheese & Fig Pizza

I really love the sweet and salty flavors of this pizza, the figs are sweet and juicy and they are made even sweeter by the salty sheep's milk cheeses and the pasture raised bacon crumbles. The flavors were so beautiful and simple. I always love pairing bacon or cheese with fruit when I make things, its such a pleasing combination. Black mission figs are soft and delicate, their flavor is like eating a cross between a plum and a melon. When you bake them it caramelizes their natural sugars and makes them even sweeter. They are perfect for white pizzas that are simply dressed with olive oil and garlic, they would get lost in a saucy pizza, the tomatoes would just overpower them. They were so perfect as the sweet component here.

I used two different sheep milk cheeses on this pizza; a locally made blue cheese and a young Spanish manchego. Both are very, very different but compliment each other beautifully. The local blue cheese is one of my very favorite cheeses, made about 40 minutes from my house in Old Chatham, NY. The Old Chatham Sheepherding company makes a variety of sheep's milk products that are insanely good and so unique. The Shaker Blue is soft, and has a sweet and sharp flavor, reminiscent of a gorgonzola. I buy it all the time and it always goes so wonderfully in all my blue cheese recipes. The young manchego I used is only aged 6 months which makes it creamier and milder than a traditional aged one. It melts beautifully and has a very pleasant buttery-nuttiness that was so wonderful on this sweet and salty pizza. You can use any mild, melting cheese here if you can't find a young manchego. Some great substitutes would be: mild white cheddar, baby Swiss or taleggio.

This recipe makes 1 medium size pizza that serves about 4.

Ingredients

1/3 of my homemade whole grain pizza dough recipe, click the link to get my recipe or use a small store bought wheat pizza dough.
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Sprig fresh, organic oregano, chopped finely.
1 Organic garlic clove, minced or grated.
1/4 Cup whole milk, grass-fed mozzarella cheese, shredded.

1/4 Cup young manchego, aged around 6 months or younger, you can read above for my recommended substitutions.
2oz Sheep's milk blue cheese, I use Shaker Blue, you can substitute gorgonzola for this, crumbled.
3 Pieces of pasture raised, pork bacon, cooked till crispy and crumbled.
4 Organic black mission figs, chopped into rounds.
Sea salt, to taste.

Directions

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Roll out the dough into a medium size, roundish, base. I don't worry if its perfect, doesn't affect the taste in the slightest. Place on a pizza stone or oiled baking sheet. Set aside.

In a small, microwave safe, bowl mix the olive oil, garlic and oregano. Microwave for 30 seconds to infuse the herb and garlic into the oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and spread evenly over your pizza dough as the sauce.

Sprinkle with the manchego and mozzarella cheeses. Spread the blue cheese and bacon crumbles over the pizza, evenly. Top with the fig slices.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust is browned evenly and the cheese is bubbly and slightly browned. Remove to a cutting board and slice into 8 even pieces.

This pizza has very delicate flavors so I do not top with the normal pizza toppings, I like to enjoy it as is!