sometimes you gotta slow down
Recipe: lemon bacon goat cheese flatbread
You still have until Sunday to enter to win a Wii console and a Wii Fit Plus package! So if you haven’t entered yet… go do it!
I was all set to sit down and post Wednesday night when our power went out due to some awesome thunderstorms rolling through. And then I had surgery the next morning. I tried to log on from the surgery wing, but their wi-fi was really hosed. I was negotiating local anesthesia and sedation with the anesthesiologist, but he was a no go – he told me the pain levels would be too much for that and so I had to get general anesthesia. Then he asked me why and I replied, “Because I have stuff to do?” Hey, I tried. He promised it would wear off quickly. It was thankfully outpatient surgery, yet it left me feeling queasy and in a fog for the remainder of the day. I wasn’t sure if that was the pain or the drugs, but I don’t fight it so much anymore. I’ve learned my lesson after a lumpectomy, chemo, radiation, and that blasted emergency appendectomy (traditional, mind you, not that nice less invasive laparoscopic kind). I know by now when to push myself and when to let the body rest. And now it’s Friday. I have to remind myself that scheduling surgery is not like scheduling a haircut… But I’m feeling much better today! Thanks for all of the emails, FB comments, and tweets :)
A few months ago I was meeting up with my ladies for happy hour. As my dear Nichole sat down, she handed me a page torn from a magazine and said in her sweet tone, “Would you make that for me!? It looks sooooo good!” It was a picture of a pizza with lemon slices and greens and bacon – maybe some caramelized onions? It was lovely. “Sure!” I said, as I looked around for a description. Oops, that was on the other page, which was still connected to the magazine which was… not here. It was in my queue of recipes to try when Nichole posted on her FaceBook page that she and Luke had made the pizza. I was still determined to try it. Of course, my memory of the photo was further diminished after having recycled the page. You can tell this is going to be a winner.
i’m guessing bacon, onions, goat cheese, arugula, meyer lemon
slice the onions because we want to caramelize them
But really, I just don’t see how you can screw up pizza – or flatbread. What is the technical difference? I don’t know and I’m too lazy (busy?) to google it, so maybe one of you experts can lay it on me. I figured the combination of toppings would be better served with an olive oil drizzle rather than any sort of sauce. And for some reason, I wasn’t in a gooey cheese kind of mood, so goat cheese it was. Caramelized onion is fabulous on flatbread (now I’m calling it flatbread), but whenever I start caramelizing onions, I am never sure it will become what it is supposed to become. It usually looks like sautéed onions right up until (and for me – past) the point where you think it’s not working. It’s a magical transition much like the how the messy hot cream and chopped chocolate suddenly evolves into a velvety dark ganache before your eyes.
everything is ready: caramelized onions, sliced meyer lemons, fried bacon, pink salt, and olive oil
spread a thin layer of olive oil on the dough
Use your favorite pizza dough. If you know how to toss (I don’t and when I tried, we had a near disaster) then toss, or you can stretch it and roll/press it out. We still don’t own a pizza stone so we use a shallow baking sheet. Jeremy heats it up at 500°F in our oven while I prep the flatbread on foil on another sheet. When we’re ready, we slide the aluminum foil onto the hot sheet. It works for us.
add your toppings
and plops of goat cheese
I sliced the lemon as thin as I could, but the Meyers are softer than regular lemons and I could only achieve wafer thin qualification with half of them. The whole slices are so much prettier on the flatbread, but I’ll tell ya, they’re hard to eat. It’s tough cutting your teeth through the rinds without pulling the whole slice off. My own preference would be to further slice them into quarters or sixths and sprinkle them on top.
awaiting the oven
This sort of recipe is more of a suggestion than a recipe. Swap out the dough with whatever you prefer. Make your own combination of toppings. I have to say that this combination of flavors and ingredients is remarkably light (no sauce or gooey cheese) and bright (lemon and arugula) and yet still substantial (bacon and caramelized onions). I don’t even know if this is what was in the original magazine page Nichole had given me, but if not – I’m still glad she inspired me to give this a try.
bake 5 minutes and you’re ready
Lemon, Bacon, and Goat Cheese Flatbread
[print recipe]
1 batch of pizza dough (I used this one)
1-2 tbsps olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
salt
4 oz. bacon, diced
olive oil
corn meal
salt to taste
fresh arugula
4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
1 Meyer lemon, sliced thin (and quartered or cut into 6ths if you want easier eating)
Make the pizza dough. While the dough is rising, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide sauté pan on medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté. Add a little salt to taste. Continue to sauté for 10-15 minutes until the onions become soft and brown. Remove from heat. Cook the bacon to desired crispness. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 500°F with pizza stone or thin baking sheet on the middle rack. Prepare the dough to your liking (we make four thin-crust 12-inch rounds from one recipe). If using a paddle (I don’t even own one, so I’m guessing here) sprinkle some cornmeal onto the paddle and set the stretched dough atop. If using foil (like we did) rub a little olive oil on the foil and then sprinkle some cornmeal over it before dropping the dough on the surface. Mine never stretches properly (because of me, not the dough) and so I usually press the edges out once it is on the work surface. Drizzle some olive oil over the dough and spread it evenly. Sprinkle some salt and then distribute the ingredients: arugula, caramelized onions, goat cheese, bacon, lemon slices. Slide the flatbread onto the stone or sheet in the oven (we just take the sheet out of the oven, slide the bread over and pop it back into the oven) and bake for 5 minutes or until desired doneness. I like when the bottom of the bread is just golden. Serve hot.
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:04 pm
This is why I love you. That is all.
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
My husband things caramelized onions are code for “fancy food” but that looks AMAZING. I’ll take fancy food any day.
Glad you’re feeling better!
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Pink Salt = Salt Peter?!
Trying to find it here in LA LBC…
April 23rd, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Shaun – (I’ll take this because it sounds like Jen is swamped lately!) Pink salt and saltpeper are definitely not the same thing. Pink salt is salt (NaCl) with impurities that make it pink and change the flavor a little. Saltpeter is potassium nitrate, a different chemical completely.
April 23rd, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Glad you’re feeling better! I’m thinking prosciutto here. Yum.
April 23rd, 2010 at 2:19 pm
That looks wonderful.
REST… I know that word is foreign to you, but please take good care of yourself.
Hugs and kisses are sent your way.
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Holy crap–you’ve pretty much named all my favorite things and stuffed them onto one pizza. Lemon? Check. Goat cheese? Check. Bacon? Double check.
Glad you’re feeling better.
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I love the citrus burst! Very nice. Glad you are feeling better. Take care!
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:17 pm
glad you are feeling better today – and that looks much too good to not try making…
April 24th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Got an image of you sitting up in the OR w/ your laptop (wonder where the camera was?) working away DURING your surgery. Hope all is well.
Caramelized onions on pizza…YUM. Now how about some roasted capers, mushrooms & artichoke hearts? If you’re ever in KC, go to Spin…wonderful pizzas & salads.
April 24th, 2010 at 10:36 am
What a pretty pizza!
Girl, you are about as tough as they come! Rock on.
April 24th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Mmmm, wonderful flavours!
April 24th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Glad you are feeling better, sweet. That pizza looks delightful–and now Nicole has taught me that I can just bring you a recipe and beg you to make it for me. Much better than doing it myself!
April 24th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
What a beautiful pizza!! I love how you decorated even the ingredients before placing them on the pizza. I wish I had your patience and attention to detail.
April 24th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Gorgeous. Never thought to put lemon slices on pizza before, but I’m loving the idea.
April 24th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Wow Jen, glad that you are on the mend.
The pizza looks lovely. I seem to remember a calzone with lemons and goat cheese with thinly sliced carrots and tomato sauce at a restaurant in the Rockridge area of Oakland, CA back in my post-college days. The lemon was thinly sliced and then cut in fourths or eights and the rind was intact but soft enough to eat. Boy, was that good!
April 25th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Jen — All’s right with the world when the anaesthesia wears off and you’re cooking again. Welcome back to well.
April 25th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
The combination of flavors seems so unique. But they seem like they would work very well together. I’ll have to try this sometime. Thanks for sharing.
April 25th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Slow down for Jen means going 100 mph :-)
Hope you are feeling back to normal very very soon…am sure Kaweah kisses help!
xoxo
April 26th, 2010 at 7:46 am
Arugula sounds divine! Goat cheese — not so much. Maybe Feta? Anyway, it looks great! Hope you’re feeling back in top form soon!
April 26th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Glad to see you’re feeling better :) This looks deelicious!
April 26th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Yum! Three of my favorite things: goat cheese, bacon and arugula! Can’t wait to try that combination on a GF pizza crust. Thanks for sharing.
April 27th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Goat cheese and caramelized onions are pretty much my go-to killer aps to crank up any food item…. mmmmmmm
and glad you’re feeling better!
April 28th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Mmmmm this looks amazing! And definitely something I never would have thought of. I can’t wait to try this on the grill!
My current “oh I wouldn’t have thought of those toppings” pizza are basil pesto topped with pear, carmalized onion and brie. But now that I think about it bacon will probably be lovely too!
April 28th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
That looks absolutly amazing! I love goats cheese and I can’t wait to try this!
April 29th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Hey, thanks everyone for the kind wishes. I’m pretty much 100% now. You guys RAWK! xo
Shaun – it’s just pink Himalayan rock salt that I ground. You can probably find it at Trader Joes :)
Bridget – yeah, we don’t want Shaun eating saltpeter!
Kristin – thanks for the tip! I don’t think I’ll ever be in KC as far as I know, but if I am – you’ll find me at Spin :)
TKW – ha ha ha! Shame on that Nichole! ;)
Tamar – I love you, hon. xo
Kath – ptttttth! Thanks love!
Nan – yes, I was also thinking feta. I love both goat cheese and feta, so either one would be a hit for me!
Betsy Gluten Freedom – I love your blog name.
April 30th, 2010 at 1:04 am
[…] Lemon, Bacon, and Goat Cheese Flatbread ~ use real butter […]
May 1st, 2010 at 5:36 pm
I didn’t know you were having surgery but I’m SO glad you are feeling better now! I love how you were negotiating with the doctor so you could blog…totally something I would do.
This flatbread looks fantastic. Do you just eat the lemons like that?
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Who wouldn’t love flatbread?! You just rock it again!
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:10 pm
And, take care jen! xxoo
May 10th, 2010 at 4:08 am
[…] creation is merely a very obvious hybrid of this pizza, which I ate at a friend’s house, and this one, which I saw on one of my favorite food blogs. I think it’s appropriate to break this down […]
August 31st, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Have you owned a pizza stone, yet?! You Must, you Should, you Really need to, you Absolutely have to, you definitely must!!!! Get my message?!!