the hungry bambino

This is inspired by the BLT pizza currently on the menu at Lombardino's – a fabulous local Italian restaurant that's one of our favorite haunts. For the crust, I use Marc Bittman's basic pizza dough recipe. The "sauce" is just a head of roasted garlic, mashed with salt and pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil. I roast the tomatoes and bacon in the oven ahead of time and use Cedar Grove's Organic Mozzarella. Once it's out of the oven, I top with fresh baby arugula and let it wilt slightly before cutting. Chris is pretty generous with the compliments when he eats my food, but this has received more oohs and aahs than anything I have made in a long time. I must say, it's pretty good.

BLT pizza
serves 4 adults, generously or 2 with leftovers

Ingredients:
1 batch of homemade pizza dough
1 pint of cherry, grape or Juliette tomotoes (I halve them if they are really big)
1 head of garlic, roasted until soft and caramelized
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more to lightly coat the tomatoes for roasting
4-5 slices of bacon – I use uncured, nitrate-free bacon
2 cups baby arugula , long stems removed
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper



Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a foil-lined sheet pan, toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. On the other half of the pan, place the slices of bacon. Roast for 10 minutes, until bacon starts to crisp and tomatoes are wilted. Remove from oven to cool slightly. Drain bacon on paper towel and when cool enough to handle, chop bacon into 1-inch pieces.


In a small bowl, mash roasted garlic with a generous pinch of salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside.


On a flour-dusted board, roll or press out dough to a rough 14 x 17 inch rectangle. Transfer to an aluminum sheet pan. Spread roasted garlic mixture on the dough. Layer with cheese, then tomatoes and bacon. Cook on bottom rack of oven until golden and bubbly, about 15 minutes.

Sprinkle with arugula. Let wilt for 2-3 minutes. Cut and serve.