Garden of Eden Aphrodisiac Pizza

We’re going for serious aphrodisiac properties here if you believe in such things: the figs are the most obvious, (apparently Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover their nakedness in the Garden of Eden) and the honey contains b-vitamins which are essential in testosterone production and boron which helps metabolize estrogen. But the raw beauty of this gorgeous salad-topped pizza, and the sensual scent of the truffle oil seal the deal.

If the dough element looks like too much faf, this pizza is also delicious on a flatbread – though because they are already cooked, you only need a 400 oven and about 5 mins to warm the topping.

Garden of Eden Pizza – Fresh pizza with truffle oil, goat cheese, arugula, Parma ham, figs and honey (per pizza)

1 ball of pizza dough (I buy mine from Trader Joes, though a couple of my local pizza places also sell it by the ball)

1 ½ tsp truffle oil

2 tbsp soft goat cheese

4 black mission figs

2 tsp honey

1 cup arugula (rocket)

2 slices of Parma ham

½ tbsp olive oil

lemon

Salt and pepper

Cornmeal / flour

• Oil a bowl, put the dough in it and let it rise in a warm place for 20 mins (if you’re buying it from a pizza restaurant it should be good to go, but the Trader Joes dough is refrigerated and this really helps the texture)
• On a floured surface, roll out the pizza dough into a rough circle, then pull and stretch it into as thin a disk as you can manage
• Transfer it to a non stick baking sheet (to ensure that it won’t stick dust the sheet with cornmeal)
• Let the dough rest of 5 mins (it springs back) then pull out again to get a really thin crust
• Now preheat the oven to as high as it will go – about 500 in my case
• Dot the truffle oil onto the pizza, then brush with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper
• Dot little pieces of the goat cheese over the pizza
• Cut the figs in half and arrange on the pizza. Spoon a little drizzle of honey over each piece and season with black pepper
• Bake – it’s hard to give a time here because so much depends on the temperature of the oven. Mine takes about 5 mins.
• Top with the Palma ham, and the arugula dressed with a squeeze of lemon, a splash of olive oil and some salt

If You Can Make That You Can Make This:

• Use the same ingredients to top a sheet of puff pastry to make Garden of Eden tart
• Swap the figs for slices of pear, and the goat cheese for blue cheese – this was my friend Molly’s Valentines dinner this year
• Top the pizza with chopped fresh tomato, mozzarella and basil
• Or with marinara sauce, mozzarella and olives
• Or with marinara sauce, sliced mushrooms, garlic oil and parmesan
• Or with ricotta cheese, sliced mushrooms, truffle oil and parmesan
• Or with ricotta cheese, roasted butternut squash, truffle oil and parmesan
• Or with pesto, grilled vegetables and mozzarella

This pizza recipe originally appeared with the run down of how Valentines day landed in the lives of my friends this year.