As I mentioned in my Paris post, the fig pizza we had at Pink Flamingo was one of our favorite meals of our honeymoon. Despite the fact that we were in France, our favorite meals in Paris included that pizza and the sushi at Miss Ko. Honestly, the French probably should have kicked us out of the city. They didn't, thank goodness. But anyway - our first wedding anniversary is on Sunday, so I thought recreating that pizza would be a great way for me to celebrate on the blog.

Actually, fig pizza is kind of the perfect food to commemorate our marriage and relationship. Pizza was the first meal we ever cooked together, and it remains one of our favorite things to make together. It's always an extreme joint effort, and we both have very specific roles that we play: I make the dough, Robert preps the pan, rolls out the dough and then usually sauces it after it par-bakes, and the final topping of it along with the broiling final touch are usually overseen by both of us. There's some mutual cleaning thrown in there during downtimes. We have it down to an exact science. In fact, you can read all about my homemade pizza method here.

Furthermore, our first big cooking project together was making homemade fig jam. And then one of our favorite things to do with that jam was to put it on pizzas. Fig jam + caramelized onion + bacon + ricotta is a real winner. Anytime we're out at a restaurant and see a pizza with figs or fig jam on the menu, we have to get it. There's usually no question about it. That's why the pizza we had on our honeymoon (which was the special that day - called "The Brangelina" - I guess they were getting married in Paris while we were there?), was so on point and our obvious choice. Fig pizza might be our food soulmate.

I always get excited for the end of summer as figs come into season and start showing up at our farmer's market. To me, it feels like our "special time of year." It reminds me of when we first started dating and brings back fond memories.

I made this pizza twice over the course of recipe-testing and photographing it. I don't mean to brag, but ... both times it was better than the one we had in Paris. I went heavier on the toppings because who doesn't want as much fresh fig as possible on their pizza slice? I feel like to do this pizza justice I should be making it at least once a week until fresh figs disappear from the market. (I think Robert would be on board with that.) During non-fig-season I bet you could resort to chopped dried figs or fig jam in place of the fresh ones and it would still be phenomenal.

This recipe doesn't require much prep at all, which is my favorite kind of pizza to make. It uses my go-to homemade dough recipe, which is super hands-off and can be ready within 40 minutes. Otherwise you only need to slice up some figs, chop some pistachios and maybe warm up some honey. The rest is all assembly and baking time. So it's basically my perfect homemade pizza: easy, not too many ingredients, and has a salty-sweet flavor profile with fruit, nuts and honey. I LOVE IT.

We are headed to the beach this weekend to celebrate our anniversary, and I CANNOT WAIT. I'm looking forward to spending some relaxing quality time together, which will be a nice change from our fast-paced everyday lifestyle. I plan to spend a lot of time reading on the beach, going out to eat, and maybe get some dancing in if we're lucky.

Happy 1st Anniversary, Robert! I am so lucky to have you - This has been one of the best years of my life, and I love the little day-to-day routines we are creating with each other. I enjoy all of our moments with one another, from road trips to making pizza to giving each other feedback on our art to binge-watching television. You're my favorite. If the first year of marriage is supposed to be the hardest, then we have an easy road ahead of us. xoxoxo

Illustration at top created with pencil and Photoshop.
Prints of my illustrations (plus other products with my work on them) are available in my Society6 shop.

FIG PIZZA WITH GOAT CHEESE, PISTACHIOS AND HONEY

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup warm water
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 tsp granulated sugar
190g (about 1.5 cups) bread flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
olive oil
cornmeal (optional)
herbs (optional)
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella
4-6 fresh figs, sliced
about 1 oz. fresh goat cheese
2 tbsp roasted and salted pistachios, roughly chopped
1-2 tbsp honey

INSTRUCTIONS

Put your warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast on top and then sprinkle the sugar on top of that. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
At the same time, turn your oven on to “warm” or 200°F for 5 minutes and then turn it off.
In a small bowl, mix together the flour and salt.
When the yeast is done sitting for 5 minutes, add the flour mixture and mix on medium-low with a dough hook until it forms a craggy mass.
Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and then mix again on low speed for another few minutes until the dough comes together in a smooth ball. If it seems too wet or dry, add a little more water or flour until it reaches the right consistency. It should not stick to your hands.
Take the dough out of the bowl and set it aside. Put about 1 tbsp of olive oil in the bowl and swish it around the bottom. Put the dough back in the bowl and turn it a few times to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it in the oven to rise for at least 30 minutes. (The oven should be OFF, but warm from earlier.)
Spray a sheet pan with nonstick oil or rub it with olive oil. If using them, sprinkle the pan with cornmeal and herbs.
When the dough is done rising, use your hands to spread it out into a rectangle on your pan to about 11x15 inches (or a circle if using a circular pan). Meanwhile, turn your oven on to 500°F.
Place the spread-out dough in the oven for 4-6 minutes, or until it just starts to firm up.
Take it out of the oven and then top it with the sauce, mozzarella, fresh figs and goat cheese. I like to put tiny little globs of goat cheese all over, strategically placed amongst the fig slices.
Place it back in the oven to bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, broil it if necessary to get the cheese browned and bubbly.
Slide the pizza off of the sheet pan and onto a large cutting board. Drizzle it with honey (you may need to warm it slightly to make it pourable) and then top with the pistachios.
Slice it and enjoy!