My fridge has been full of figs, so I wanted to put them to good use before they expired. Last week I shared a Fig & Serrano Jam. It was sweet and spicy and oh-so-good! This post shares a fun way to use the jam, besides pairing it with stinky cheeses and bread. I decided to make a Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza with arugula and caramelized onions. You will definitely want to save this recipe and grab my photography tips from the shoot.
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Food Photography Tips for Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza
KEEP IT REAL
I never want my food images to look too perfect. It’s the imperfections that bring my style of shooting to life. Let the ingredients look natural and don’t be afraid to get a little messy.
GET A GOOD MACRO LENS
A macro lens will let you get up close and personal with the food creating those mouth-watering food images that make people hungry. When people feel like they can reach out and grab a slice, that’s a really good thing. I am a Nikon shooter and I use this Nikon 105mm Macro Lens for a lot of my food photography.
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Read More About: My Favorite Lenses for Food Photography
Recipe Notes for Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza
HEAT THE PIZZA STONE FIRST
Pizza is so fun to make at home. We decided to use our new pizza stone in the oven for this recipe. I highly recommend placing the pizza stone in the oven and let it heat up with the oven for about 45 minutes before putting your pizza in. This ensures an evenly heated crust and a very fast cooking process.
BALANCE THE FLAVORS
In my post about Fig Jam, I mentioned the importance of keeping the flavors of the jam balanced. And, if you’re pairing the jam with non-sweet things like cheese and bread, it works. However, when I used the jam on the pizza, I didn’t get much spice. This was because sweet caramelized onions took over. The flavors were still delicious, but just a little too sweet for me. But, I was able to fix it with a simple solution.
I decided to add a couple slices of jalapeño to my individual pieces of the pizza (not the whole pizza). It cut through the sweetness beautifully and the flavor balance leveled out. I love how adding one extra ingredient can come to the rescue without having to start from scratch.
Happy Cooking!
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Fig Jam and Goat Cheese Pizza
Ingredients
- 10-12 ounces fresh pizza dough
- 3 medium sweet onions, sliced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons goat cheese, crumbled
- 2 cups fresh arugula
- 5-6 fresh figs, sliced
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Fig & Serrano Jam (see recipe)
- 1 jalapeño, sliced, if desired
Instructions
- Place a pizza stone on the middle rack in the oven.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and let pizza stone warm for 1 hour.
- Roll pizza dough into a 10-12 inch circle, or shape of your choice and pierce with a fork.
- Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper. This helps with transferring the pizza on and off of the pizza stone.
- Place butter and onions in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
- Stir the onions every 5-10 minutes to be sure they are cooking evenly and not getting burned. They will start to soften and become translucent.
- After 30 minutes, the onions will start turning light brown and will start to caramelize. Continue checking the onions and stirring for about 50 minutes to an hour until onions are caramelized.
- Remove the onions from the heat.
- Spread Fig & Serrano Jam over the pizza dough.
- Next, scatter the caramelized onions over the pizza dough.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of goat cheese sprinkled over the pizza dough.
- Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the crust is crisp.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Toss the arugula with olive oil, salt and pepper and sprinkle over the pizza.
- Add sliced figs and sprinkle with additional goat cheese, if desired.
Notes
If pizza is too sweet, add additional slices of jalapeño.
This post contains affiliate links which means if you click or make a purchase through my site, I might make a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only promote products that I actually use and support.
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All images © Regan Baroni 2017.
That was an incredible pizza… the jam & the goat cheese & the caramelized onions are just perfect. DELICIOUS!
I’m so glad you liked it… but I know anything with figs or anything with “cooked” onions, will be A-OK with you! 😉
This is my kind of pizza, and I’m a huge fan of figs:). Your photos are amazing. How you get those beautiful deep colors?
Thank you for the compliments, Carlos! I am such a huge fan of figs too – it was fun to use them on a pizza! I’m a natural light shooter. It always brings out the best colors and details of food.
[…] can use this jam with good, stinky cheeses and breads, but I have something else in mind for next week. Stay tuned for another recipe with a fun way to use fresh figs and this delicious […]
[…] You should also check out my Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza with Arugula and Fig Jam. […]