There’s a popular food-related parlor game that, depending on which variation you’re playing, requires you to identify the one dish you’d either 1) want if you were stranded on a desert island or 2) want if it was your last meal on this green Earth.
In other words: What would you choose to eat if you could have only that for the rest of your life?
This pizza recipe might—might—be my desert-island dish.
It’s inspired by a memorable pizza that Rob and I enjoyed on a visit years ago to California’s Alexander Valley wine country, and we’ve made it at home countless times. It’s the perfect mashup of flavors: rich, pork-y prosciutto; flavorful Fontina cheese; peppery-lemony arugula. No sauce. And an almost-too-much portion of freshly cracked black pepper.
You can use a pre-made pizza dough or prepared crust, if you need to, but it’s really so easy to make your own that I’d suggest you give this simple pizza dough recipe a try.
This may not be your desert-island meal. That’s OK. More for me.
pizza with prosciutto, fontina and arugula
1/2 recipe homemade pizza dough
1 1/2 cup grated Fontina
3–4 thin slices prosciutto
coarsely cracked pepper
2 big handfuls fresh baby arugula
lemon-infused olive oil
Preheat oven to 450 degrees; place a pizza stone, if you have one, in the oven to preheat. Roll the pizza dough into a round about 15 inches in diameter. Transfer dough to the preheated stone (sprinkle your baking stone with cornmeal to prevent sticking) or place it on a large baking sheet and put it in the oven. Bake for 5–7 minutes, until the dough just begins to brown lightly. Remove the pizza from the stone to a baking sheet and sprinkle generously with cheese. Tear the prosciutto into pieces and scatter them over the cheese; top with a generous sprinkling of cracked pepper. Return the pizza to the oven and bake for 10–12 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. Meanwhile, in a bowl, toss the arugula with the lemon olive oil (or use a combination of olive oil and fresh lemon juice). To serve, top the pizza with a big pile of arugula and another grind of black pepper.
What’s your desert-island meal? Please share in the comments section!
Growing up in Dayton, I have many fond memories of family outings to Dominic’s, a family run Italian resaurant which closed a few years ago. If there was a way to have their lasagna one more time, made in its own little crock with tons of cheese, Italian sausage and just the right sauce. Plus their lethal house salad, everyone knew you went to Dominic’s because you reeked of garlic for days that would be my last meal.
Bryn,
That pizza looks amazing! I never knew KAF made a pizza flour, I’ll have to check it out. Too bad I let my inbox fill up and missed the free shipping special a while back.
My desert island meal would be sautéed beet greens with a fried egg and toast, so I could swap out and have fried egg sandwiches too since I could eat those every day. Or everything bagels with lox, cream cheese, red onion, capers, and tomatoes from the garden.
Now I’m hungry.
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