Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza


This was another quick and easy weeknight meal. I'm sure this would be even better if you make your own homemade pizza dough and homemade red sauce, but if you're looking for something you can throw together after a long day at work, this is so easy and convenient.

Yellow onions actually have more sugar in them than "sweet onions," making them ideal for this recipe. When you caramelize onions, you are actually converting the sugars within the onion into caramel. As the oil heats up, the water from the onions evaporates, allowing the temperature of the sugars in the onions to rise. Once the sugars reach a temperature of 310°F, they begin to caramelize, and the onions change from light tan to golden, and then eventually deep brown.

The onions do get a little burnt around the edges while the pizza cooks in the oven, so next time I may wait until the last 3-5 minutes of cooking to add them to the pizza.


The combination of caramelized onions, goat cheese, and sun dried tomatoes is excellent. I imagine it would have been even better if I had some basil on hand. I love sun dried tomatoes, so I doubled them in this recipe. Even if you don't love them as much as I do, I'd still recommend adding a little more than what is indicated in the recipe, maybe 1/3 cup instead of 1/4 cup.

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza
from Cooking Light


2 teaspoons olive oil
2
cups thinly sliced onion, separated into rings (about 1 onion)
1
(1-pound) Italian cheese-flavored pizza crust (such as Boboli)
1/2
cup bottled pizza sauce (such as Contadina) (I used Prego roasted garlic and herb)
1/4
cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves (I used 1/2 cup)
2/3
cup (3 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
1/4
cup chopped fresh basil (I omitted this - didn't have any on hand)
Preheat oven to 450°F.

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; cover and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover and cook for 11 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. (After I uncovered the skillet, I turned the heat down to low-medium to avoid burning the onions.)

Place the pizza crust on a baking sheet. Combine the sauce and tomatoes. Spread sauce mixture over pizza crust. Top with onion and cheese. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Sprinkle with basil. Cut into 6 wedges.

8 comments:

  1. Wow. This looks sooooo good!!!

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  2. looks great!!! i need to be more adventurous with my pizza toppings. i always do plain cheese or mushrooms.

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  3. You had me at caramelized onions, but you sealed the deal with goat cheese :)

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  4. YUMMMMM!!!! this rocks the house & I can't wait to try it :O)

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  5. This looks soooooo good! Carmelized onions and goat cheese is literally one of my favrotie food combos EVER!! ::drooling::

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  6. Your food always looks so good. You don't know how many of your recipes I have "starred" on my google reader (a lot!).

    Happy cooking!

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  7. Hi Jamie,
    Doesn't this look "purty"? It sounds absolutely delicious too!!! I was wondering whether you would mind me "grabbing" the pic to include on my post for National Cheese Pizza Day (Sept.5th) I would of course link back to the recipe. Thanks for sharing...

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  8. Louise - sure! would love to be included in your post!

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