Bacon, Fig and Arugula Pizza

Today I took a new step in my culinary journey. I just tried for the first time today.... the Fig.  I have never eaten a fresh fig before.  I don't know if I've had figs in anything other than the famous Fig Newtons cookies.  So I was a little apprehensive when I saw the figs on sale at my local grocery store.  Should I buy it and see what all the hype is about?  I see figs used in so many "fancy" recipes.  Yes, I consider them as fancy because I don't really see figs as a every day ingredient.  I decided that I would take a safe route with my two precious newly bought figs by pairing it with Bacon!  Now how could I go wrong there?  I loved my BLT Pizza so much I decided to make it's "fancy" cousin the BLF Pizza.  I don't know if I came up with the combination or not,  but darn if it wasn't a good idea.  The sweetness of  the fig paired so wonderfully with the salty bacon.   The "lettuce" I decided to use was spicy arugula.  I think I ate two pieces after I took my glamor shots for the blog and now I'm ready to go down and eat another piece because yes it was just that darn good.    

                                              

Ingredients:
 2-3 fresh ripe figs
5-6 slices of bacon crispy
1 large handful of baby arugula
1/3 cup of plain cream cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 premade pizza crust such as pita, naan, afghan bread or boboli








Directions:

Bake your bacon in the oven.  Place bacon on a cooling rack over a baking tray and bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the bacon is crispy enough to crumble.  While you have the oven on heat up your pizza crust base until it is warm and slightly crispy around the edges.

Next spread some cream cheese to cover the base of the crust.

Note: I recommend using "whipped" cream cheese if you can get it because it's lighter and easier to apply.

Chop one fig well and apply over the cream cheese in an even layer.

Next top with your crumbled bacon.  I like a lot of bacon.

Finally top with your arugula leaves a salt and pepper you like and more sliced pieces of figs.

Enjoy!  : )