Homemade Pizza with Prosciutto, Arugula, and Caramelized Onions

My parents are on vacation out west and on the phone yesterday, my mom was telling me about this incredibly delicious prosciutto and arugula salad they'd had the night before. It was chilled and dressed in a lemony vinaigrette and my mom said it was delightful. 

It must have made an impact on me because I found myself later that day in the grocery store shopping for the supplies to make a homemade prosciutto and arugula pizza for dinner. (Except I forgot the prosciutto. The multitude of mozzarella choices distracted me. My husband saved the day and bought some on his way home.)

I don't know about you but I've always found it difficult to make a really great homemade pizza. I'm convinced that a pizza stone would help but we don't make pizza super often so we haven't invested in one. But! This pizza was truly excellent and today I'm armed with tips if, like me, you struggle to make the perfect pie.

I combined several recipes and ended up making a prosciutto/mozzarella/caramelized balsamic onions/arugula pizza. My husband and I both loved it--it was salty, tangy, sweet, and super fresh tasting.

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Pizza dough (I bought a ball of dough from the store but I've made my own before using this yeast which is fast and easy and yummy)

One red onion

8 oz fresh mozzarella 

Prosciutto

Lots of arugula

Balsamic vinegar

Worcestershire sauce

Good olive oil

Salt and pepper

First preheat the oven to 500 degrees and put your baking pan/pizza stone/cookie sheet in the bottom third of the oven. It's important that the oven be blazing hot.

Then roll out the dough using a rolling pin. I've never done this for pizza dough before--normally I stretch it with my hands--but I will definitely continue to roll it from now on. It made the crust even and quite thin. I did this on our fancy marble pastry board (an amazing wedding gift!) but a clean countertop would work too. Use a dusting of flour in this step. Let the stretched-out dough rest for a bit.

Chop the onion into thin slices and sauté in olive oil until they are golden (10-12 minutes). Then add a generous splash of balsamic vinegar and a generous splash of Worcestershire sauce and continue to cook until the liquid is absorbed, another 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Cook's commentary: these are divine. I could eat them straight from the pan for lunch.)

Grate the mozzarella while the onions are cooking.

To assemble the pizza, put the rolled out dough on the hot baking sheet from the oven, using additional flour if necessary to ensure the pizza doesn't stick. Brush a bit of olive oil onto the dough. Lay the prosciutto across the top in a single layer. Scatter the caramelized onions evenly, then the cheese. 

Return to the lower third of the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, and as soon as the pizza comes out of the oven heap the spicy fresh arugula on top. The edges will wilt a bit, which you want.

You can finish with parmesan if you like (we didn't) or hot red pepper flakes (we did).

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Yum! This is something I will certainly make again. I'm so excited to have finally made a pizza I'm really proud of. Thanks for the inspiration, Mom and Dad.