Herbed Fontina Pizza

What’s savory yet fresh, white with green spots, crispy yet subtly chewy, and full of garlicky, herb-y deliciousness? You’ve guessed it: Herbed Fontina Pizza.

Warning: this pizza may make you do crazy things.

Crazy things like eat not one but two individual pizzas, book an impromptu weekend vacation to sunny Florida (no seriously, Dan and I did just that after devouring this euphoria-inducing za), dance around your kitchen in delighted glee, and talk to your cat about how you wish he was a person so he could experience this pizza. Just me on that last one? Thought so.

But seriously, I think I’ve reached pizza enlightenment. Don’t ask questions. Just add the below ingredients to tomorrow’s grocery list and make this flavorful little gem of a pizza. You’ll thank me later… but not too much later since you’ll be making it tomorrow, right? Right.

Herbed Fontina Pizzas (Makes 4 Individual Pizzas*)

For the Herb Oil:

◊ 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

◊ 2 cloves garlic, minced

◊ 1 tablespoon rosemary, roughly chopped

◊ 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Heat all ingredients in medium nonstick skillet over medium-low heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Pour into small glass bowl and let cool.

For the Pizzas:

◊ 16 ounces pizza dough of choice (I used white pizza dough)

◊ 8 ounces fontina cheese, grated

◊ 4 ounces fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

◊ 4 tablespoons herb oil

◊ sea salt, to taste

◊ large handful Italian parsley

1. Roll out each hunk of dough on a lightly-floured work surface until each is about 1/8-inch in thickness.

2. Heat a grill pan or grill over high heat. Once the grill is hot, lightly coat with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray. Transfer first pizza dough to grill pan and grill on one side for 3-4 minutes or until golden-brown grill marks become visible. Gently flip pizza and brush top with 1 tablespoon of the herb oil and sprinkle with a tiny pinch of sea salt (optional). Top with one-quarter of fontina and mozzarella. Continue to grill until bottom of pizza has visible grill marks and cheese is melted — it may help to loosely cover the grill pan with a lid. Remove from heat and top with Italian parsley and additional red pepper flakes (optional). Repeat for each pizza and serve immediately.

* Is four pizzas two or three too many? You can easily reduce the ingredients to make one individual pizza or two pizzas for a date night. The herb oil can be stored for up to one week in your fridge, so feel free to make it all and make pizzas throughout the week!