Fig and Prosciutto Pizza

This recipe combines a pizza crust recipe I found on Mark's Daily Apple with a recipe I modified slightly from the cookbook Figs. I eat it with a fork and knife. I imagine you could cook the crust longer and get it crisp enough to eat with your hands, but I am a fork-and-knife-pizza kind of girl, so I have never bothered to find out.

Pizza Crust:

1 pound of eggplant, grated
1 egg white
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup shredded parmesan

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and lightly oil it with olive oil. Spread the mixture onto the parchment paper, forming it into a pizza-sized circle. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Take it out, use edges of the parchment paper to help you flip the crust over onto the baking sheet. Bake again for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Toppings:

homemade fig preserves (see below)
garlic
gorgonzola
olive oil
green onion
prosciutto (about 3 ounces should do it)

Spread a light layer of olive oil all over the crust. Ditto for the minced garlic. Spread dollops of fig preserves and gorgonzola evenly on the dough. Tear up (by hand, or feel free to involve some kitchen shears here) the prosciutto and spread around evenly. Salt and pepper that puppy. Stick it back in the oven for about 5 to 7 minutes. Pull out and cool slightly. Chiffonade the green onion (this is just a fancy way of saying cut it into strips, but it will really impress any foodie friends if you use it around them). Garnish the top of the pizza with the green onions, and voila!

Fig Preserves:

This is kind of a big pain in the butt to make, so if you are doing this for a dinner party or something, I would suggest you make it the day before using it. It will keep in your fridge for probably a week. This recipe makes enough preserves to do about 2 or 3 pizzas, depending on how much you use.

1 tsp olive oil
3 diced shallots
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup chicken borth
1/4 cup veal or beef broth
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chopped rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon of honey
1 rounded cup dried mission figs, quartered

First of all, I like to add in more rosemary than 1 teaspoon. Generally, I smell the rosemary, and if it is pretty potent I will add just a little over a teaspoon, but if I don't happen to have the world's most potent rosemary that day, I just add and add it to my little heart's content. Otherwise, it just kind of gets lost in the dish.

Place a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and the shallots (if you don't have shallots or don't feel like pretending you are a giant cutting a miniature onion, you could just use onion and no one would know the difference). Cook about 3 minutes until the shallots are softened. Deglaze with the red wine and reduce by half. Add the broths and vinegar and reduce by half. Add the rosemary and honey (you can either leave the honey out or alter it to get the sweetness that you like)

Lower the heat and add the figs. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the figs are rehydrated. Cook until the mixture has the consistency of a liquidy jam.