Figgy Focaccia

Figs are one of my favorite foods, but I rarely think about them when I'm at the store.  In the past edition of Southern Living, they had a whole section on celebrating fig season and different ways to incorporate them into recipes!

When M mentioned that he wanted to have homemade pizza one night, I remembered a recipe I saw in that feature, and knew it would be perfect.  The original recipe is just for a flat bread, but they suggest adding salami and fontina cheese to make it into a pizza.

Figgy Focaccia

Ingredients

·        1 medium-size red onion 

·        3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 

·        Coarse sea or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

·        Plain cornmeal

·        1 pound bakery pizza dough (I used whole wheat)

·        8 fresh figs, halved 

·        1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

Preparation

1. Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat. Cut onion into 3/4- to 1-inch slices. Brush onion slices with 1 Tbsp. olive oil, and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Grill onion slices, without grill lid, 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until tender and lightly charred.  (I just used a grill pan on the stove and it worked perfectly.)

2. Preheat oven to 425°. Lightly dust work surface with cornmeal. Stretch dough into a 10- to 12-inch oval on work surface. Place dough, cornmeal side down, on a greased baking sheet; drizzle with remaining 2 Tbsp. olive oil. Rub oil into dough. Arrange fig halves and grilled onion over dough, pressing lightly. Sprinkle with rosemary and salt and pepper to taste.

      2a. This is where I added the salami and fontina.  You could put the salami down before the figs like you would pepperoni, but with having it on top, it got crispy in the oven.  

3. Bake at 425° on lowest oven rack 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.  Slice and enjoy!

It was delicious!  I will definitely make this combination again.  I love making homemade pizzas and experimenting with all different things.  It's easy, creative, and definitely healthier than getting pizza out!

If you want to try the other fig recipes, check out the list from Southern Living.  I've done a couple of the others before and they're just as yummy.

Summer cookout

Recently we got together with 2 of our very favorite couples for a fun, casual outdoor dinner.  I made ribs and southern skillet corn, our neighbor made some grilled and roasted vegetables and caramelized onions. They also made caprese salad bites and grilled some sausages for appetizers.   

I found these 2 recipes from one of my favorite blogs, Eat, Live, Run.  

Both were very simple.  The corn was amazing - and only needed fresh corn, some flour, water, salt, pepper and sugar.  Cook it with a bit of butter, and it's just delicious.  

The cayenne cinnamon baby back ribs with maple glaze were just as easy.  You mix brown sugar, garlic powder, cinnamon, paprika, and some cayenne pepper with a little salt.  After putting the rub on, you wrap it in foil.

The recipe calls for you to bake it for an hour, but we threw it on the smoker instead.  After the hour, you brush some maple syrup on the ribs and let them caramelize a little.  

We enjoyed dinner with some yummy white and rose' wines, which was a great addition to our summer cookout.  Nothing says warm weather, back decks, and big red umbrellas like whites and roses, ribs, corn and grilled veggies.

Our other friends brought dessert - delicious brownies with ice cream - yum!

I love it when friends come over for casual get togethers. It's great when everyone brings something - it's always fun to see what everyone makes, and it's always so delicious!  It takes a lot of pressure off the host, but financially and with the work load.  It's so much easier to host dinner when you're not trying to do everything!

Do you have a favorite dish that you always take to parties?