Grilled Pizza with Pears, Fig Jam, Melted Cheddar, Lavender Sea Salt

It’s Five Star Foodie Make Over time again and this month’s theme is pizza. Hosted by Lazaro Cooks and Natasha of Five Star Foodie, visit their sites on Friday to see what everyone else did to take pizza in a new direction.

As Fall is just waiting in the woods (I hope) my heart went right to pears. September is a favorite month around here because it gets cooler (a little) and I want to nest and have friends to come over for dinner. This five star makeover is an appetizer pizza that will make any dinner party just a little more elegant but not in any pretentious way. After all, it’s still pizza. Served with a starter white wine, it goes well before almost any main dish.

I don’t have a great story today, except to tell you that the ingredients were free. I won a $100 gift certificate at our local Whole Foods with this recipe I submitted for peach clafoutis. Part of my splurge included the fig jam, fresh mozzarella, pears and a very sharp Inverness cheddar cheese. I purchased these items to eat separately and this pizza was only made by default. It was not my original intention but it was nearly addictive and we made it two days in a row. That right there made it push the broccoli rabe pizza over (for another day) and become the five star entry.

Fig jam mixed with a bit of olive oil to spread on dough.

Pears Love Cheese. The cheddar cheese proved outstanding, but you could easily use a manchego, brie, goat or a blue cheese. And, as an afterthought, some finely chopped walnuts would work well also.

I used a mandolin to slice the pears very thin and evenly. I went back and forth deciding the order of the ingredients and put the fig jam (mixed with olive oil) first followed by pears, then cheese, then a little more fig jam and the salt. When it comes out of the oven, follow up with black pepper and fresh thyme.

Tell me, what is your favorite non-red sauce pizza?

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