Who says you can’t have a little romance on a Monday night? 

After coming home from the start of another work week, and after sitting in front of my computer on yet another gorgeous, sunny spring day, I thought – I need wine.  And romance.  So I promptly drove to one of the local organic markets, picked up a bottle of Chianti, some nice antipasti treats, and went home to prepare a surprise candle-lit dinner for the hubs and me. 

I was already planning this pizza, which is definitely solid mid-week romance food.  Just add candles and wine.  Thank me later.

I started with a brand-new product I’d never tried – gluten-free and dairy-free pizza dough from a local artisan, Beefree Gluten Free Bakery.  Obviously, I pulled a piece off to taste (never met a dough I could resist!) and was pleased to find it was very aromatic and tasty – sort of like a focaccia.  I pressed it by fingertip into a rectangular baking sheet.  I’m non-conventional like that.  (This recipe could work with any pizza dough in any shape, of course.)

Next I drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.  And then came the cheese.  I grated a sprinkling of parmesan cheese over the entire thing, then added a single layer of thinly sliced whole milk mozzarella from your local organic dairy farm.

Then, because sometimes I’m a flake, I realized I should have sliced and carmelized the onions.  So I did that.  I used a whole red onion, sautéed over medium-high heat in ½ tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil.  You don’t have to add sugar to carmelize, but I did – about 2 teaspoons of brown sugar.  Then, just sauté until brown and completely cooked through.

Spread the onions evenly over the pizza and cook in a 500-degree oven for about 7 minutes.  Remove and add a layer of prosciutto over the entire thing.  You don’t need to cook the prosciutto the whole time, but if you like really crispy meat, add the prosciutto when you add the USDA organic onion.  Cook again for another 7-9 minutes. 

When the pizza is done cooking, immediately add a thick layer of organic arugula.  I cannot stress this enough – you cannot have too much arugula!  Something about the cured meat and peppery greens together just makes me so happy.  Another win for the slow food movement.

The chianti and candlelight made everything almost perfect.  Sharing it with my husband while we shared our days was the true treat.