Carbonara Pizza

I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about making a carbonara pizza, but I knew it had to have prosciutto (rather than bacon or pancetta), since we ate so much of it during our trip, and I knew I wanted the base sauce itself to be as close to a true carbonara sauce as possible. I have to say, I like my version of this pizza even better than the one we had on our trip – the sauce came out perfect, packed with oniony, cheesy, prosciutto-y, garlicky flavor, and with the extra strips of crisped prosciutto and a just-set egg on top of the bubbly, chewy crust, I couldn’t stop myself from eating a third slice even after I was full.

Carbonara Pizza

Serves 4.

• 1 TBS butter
• 1/2 c. finely minced onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
• 1/4 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto, divided (about 8-10 slices total)
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 4 eggs, divided
• 1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese, divided
• cornmeal (for dusting pan)
• 1/2 recipe pizza dough
• 1/3 c. freshly grated pecorino romano
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 TBS finely chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add diced onion and stir to coat with butter. Finely dice half of the prosciutto (about 4 slices) and add to the pan with the onions and butter. Saute, stirring occasionally, until prosciutto is crisp and onions are golden brown, about 6-8 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute 1 minute longer, then stir in heavy cream. Cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
3. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk together 2 of the eggs and 1/2 cup of the grated parmesan. Slowly pour the hot cream sauce into the eggs, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so to prevent scrambling. Once all the cream has been added, whisk the mixture for 30 seconds, then set aside.
4. Sprinkle a small amount of cornmeal on 2 baking sheets. Flour your work surface and a rolling pin and roll out the pizza dough into two small (or one large) crusts. Place one on each baking sheet. Spread the cream sauce on top of the crusts up to 1/2 an inch from the edge. Don’t spread the sauce so thickly that it runs over the edge – you may have a few tablespoons left over.
5. Mix together the remaining 1/2 c. parmesan cheese and the pecorino cheese. Sprinkle half of the mixture over each crust. Layer a few strips of the remaining prosciutto on top of the cheese. Carefully crack one egg into the center of each pizza. Bake the pizzas for 12-15 minutes, until crust is golden brown and egg is set. Sprinkle the hot pizzas with freshly ground black pepper and the parsley.