Last Saturday, I had my wine friends Marshall & Brittnay of WineQ, Liza of The Brix Chicks, Ward of WineLog and some other friends over to celebrate Open That Bottle Night.
Since I had agreed to host the event at my place, I was on the hook for providing vittles. What else would I do, then make something with bacon! Of course, we had the requisite cheese, bread and crackers, but I felt the need to go a little food slutty and make a scrumptious yet oh-so-easy pizza bread to eat with our Twitter Taste Live wines.
This Caramelized Onion, Brie, and Bacon pizza worked particularly well with the two red wines of the evening, Insoglio del Cinghiale, and Perriers Vallee Du Rhone. The sweetness of the caramelized onions, and the smokey sweetness of the bacon, paired with the creamy rich brie that was slightly melted, rounded out the slightly rough edges of these European gems and made the circle complete.
To make this delight, you will need;
- 4 medium onions, any kind
- 1 package ready made pizza dough (not frozen, fresh – it should make 1-12 inch pizza)
- 8 slices GOOD applewood smoked bacon
- brie
- shredded mozzarella
- optional: Fig Jam
The night before, you will need to caramelize the onions. To do this, simply slice them in to a pan with some hot olive oil. Fry them until you get a nice browning, and then turn the heat to low. Make sure to add plenty of salt, and let them simmer for about an hour. You will know they are done when they look golden and have a caramelized texture, and smell sweet.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
The day you are gong to eat this pizza, roll the dough out to make 2 6-8″ pizza rounds.
Cook the bacon until done. It doesn’t need to be too crispy, since you will bake it.
Spared the rounds with a thin layer of fig jam if you have it.
Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella.
Add onions. A little, a lot. It’s up to you!
Slice brie and add 3 or 4 1/8″ thick slices to the pizza.
Crumble the cooked bacon over the top.
Pop the whole concoction in to the oven, and cook for 8-10 minutes, until cheese is melted.
Enjoy with a nice red wine! Try a grenache blend.
Thank you Thea for the recipe! That pizza was out of this world!
That sounds so good. Wish I coulda been there not only for the bacony goodness, but also to hang with that rockstar lineup of people.
This is a really cool blog! I wish I had found it sooner. Keep up the good work.