Caramelized Red Onion Pizza with Capers and Olives

 

This is one of the tastiest pizzas I've made yet!  It doesn't sound like much but it is absolutely delicious.  I started by thinly slicing a red onion. The recipe called for 2 1/4 lbs., and I'm sure my one onion wasn't that big.  After trying this pizza though, next time I would definitely use more onion.  I tossed the onions with some fresh squeezed lemon juice and let it set while I heated up some olive oil in a skillet.
I have found there is a HUGE difference between bottled lemon juice and fresh squeezed.  The fresh taste is well worth the effort to squeeze my own lemons.  After the oil was heated I added the onions and turned down the heat a bit to let them caramelize.  While the onion was caramelizing I halved some kalamata olives.  The recipe calls for black olives, but ever since I discovered the kalamata I enjoy them so much I generally prefer to use them.  The recipe also calls for anchovies, lets just say we made an adjustment to the recipe there too!



Caramelizing the onion

 

Now it was time to put the pizza together! 

Yummy Kalamata Olives!

I started by covering the prebaked crust with mozzarella.  A hint I learned from Giada is that softer cheeses shred better if they are slightly frozen.  Normally I put the mozzarella in the freezer for 20 or 30 minutes before I shred it, but I forgot this time and discovered Giada is right!  It definitely helps if it has been slightly frozen.  Next I layered on the onions and shred some Parmesan over them.  Then I scattered the olives and some capers over the top.  I finished by drizzling a bit of olive oil over it all.  We could hardly wait for this masterpiece to come out of the oven! We enjoyed this treat while watching Walk the Line, the biographical film telling the story of Johnny and June Carter Cash.  I'm not a big fan of country music, and the Johnny Cash song I remember most is A Boy Named Sue which was popular when I was in 5th grade.  I remember listening to it on the radio while we were living in a cottage for a few weeks and had no television (before you ask, No, this wasn't before the invention of T.V.!) The movie was very well done though, with interesting insights into the lives of Johnny and June.  I would heartily recommend it if you haven't seen it already.








Ready for the oven