This recipe was a grand experiment.
My hypothesis was it would be fabulous, given the control group ingredients – pear, bacon, gorgonzola, and mascarpone cheeses.
I was, indeed, correct.
Nearly all these items were already in my fridge, begging to be put to use, with the exception of the mascarpone cheese which I had bought for a tiramisu and still had a little leftover. If you haven’t cooked with it before, mascarpone is the sweet Italian version of our cream cheese. Delish. I’ll give you a few more ideas for how to use it a little later this week, if you decide to buy it for this recipe.
So after you roll out the dough, spread a layer of mascarpone over the top.
Then sprinkle on the pear, bacon and gorgonzola cheese.
Bake until the bacon sizzles, the cheese melts and you simply can’t stand waiting for it any longer.
Looking for other ways to use your gorgonzola? Here are several suggestions:
Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Tart
Gorgonzola Stuffed Dates with Prosciutto
Pear, Bacon and Gorgonzola Flatbread
(serves 4 for a light dinner, maybe with a salad. otherwise serves 8 as an appetizer.)
A quick note – I served this as dinner anticipating that it would more be like a pizza. It was phenomenal, and I called it a flatbread here because it was light on the cheese. If you want to make it a heartier pizza, I would suggest adding a little mozzarella on top of the mascarpone and add the pear, bacon and gorgonzola.
What You’ll Need:
1 pizza dough (I prefer the wheat dough from Trader Joes)
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
1 pear, sliced thin
4 strips cooked bacon, chopped (I refer turkey bacon but the real stuff would be amazing too)
1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
Instruction
Preheat oven to 450F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out pizza dough into desired thickness. (I tried rolling it super thin but found it a bit tricky with the pre-made dough). Spread mascarpone cheese over dough, then top with pear, bacon and gorgonzola cheese.
Bake on a rimmed baking sheet* for 12-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted, bacon is sizzling and the dough is cooked through.
*Updated note: some readers have indicated that between the mascarpone cheese and the bacon their smoke alarms were put to the test. I think using a rimmed baking sheet would likely help, as would making sure your bacon is cooked and a lot of the fat already removed.
TOTAL: $5.78 or $1.44 per serving.
Wondering how on earth I arrived at these costs? Take a look at my shopping guide to show see what I pay for items, per serving, etc.
Nutrition:
408 calories per serving (based on using turkey bacon)
15 grams of fat
55 carbs
19 grams protein
6 grams fiber
Mosey on over to Facebook and let me know what you think!
from the comments, back then.
Wow, this looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
You had me at “bacon”
Wonderful. I’m so glad you called this a flatbread – I dislike it when people call it a pizza, because it is slightly different. Well named and well done
This looks fabulous! Must make.
Yum. I am not a bacon fan (I know! The blasphemy!) but I make a pizza I love with carmelized onions, gorgonzola and walnuts. I think the sliced pears would be great in that combo in place of the onions–the same soft sweetness with much less work! Thanks for the inspiration!
I had a simliar one recently at The Cheesecake Factory and fell in love. Ana makes a similar salty/sweet one too (made with fig jam). I will FOR SURE try this. Thanks!!!
That does look fantastic. Apparently lots of other people thinks so too! Must be good. I’m going to try it with some naan.