Apricot and Prosciutto Pizza...

Friday has finally rolled around again, and it happens to be last one in June to boot - woo! Last Friday, we made an unexpected run up to PA to pick up a few items we had in storage, which means we missed our weekly Pizza night. However, we sure did make up for it this evening by preparing this flashy Apricot and Prosciutto Pizza!

The original recipe had a small recipe for homemade dough included, but we decided to pass in lieu of our snazzy whole-wheat pizza dough - being versatile and quick, I didn't feeling like straying from a favorite tonight. We did, however, stick close to the shaping instructions, stretching it out to a large round, building up a rim around the edge for a crusty ridge and stabbing the top all over with a fork, before leaving it to rest for a good half hour while the oven came up to temperature.

Before arranging the toppings on the dough, it was given a quick jolt of heat on our well-seasoned pizza stone (almost two years of pizza at least once a week will do that!) to give it a head start - you are not looking to cook the crust through, but enough that you could pick it up without the dough going limp or bending in half.

Fresh, somewhat firm apricots (barely underripe works to your advantage here) are tossed together with thin slices of shallot, tiny leaves of fragrant thyme and olive oil, along with your obligatory salt and black pepper. Artfully arranged over the dough (okay, more like throwing the bowl on top and scooting the apricots around as evenly as possible), we then plastered the top with crumbles of tangy goat cheese before sliding the crust back into the oven to finish baking through.

As soon as the pizza was warm and toasty, it was taken out from the oven and scattered with fresh parsley and chives, then topped with peppery arugula, seasoned lightly and tossed with olive oil. To finish off this pizza, shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and strips of salty prosciutto grace the top, adding a touch of elegance and a welcome intensity against the sweetness of the apricots. If, by chance, apricots don't sound all that exciting, don't skip over this pizza - think about switching them out with a couple juicy peaches instead (which, by the way, are pretty darn amazing here in the southeast)!

Recipes
Apricot and Prosciutto Pizza