Pizza with Stewed California Endive, Bacon and Fontina

Contributor: Joanne Weir, Weir Cooking

Joanne Weir is a world traveler, a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, a culinary teacher, a chef, and a television personality. Joanne grew up in the Boston area, and her passion for all things culinary was a family legacy - her great-grandmother had operated a restaurant in Boston at the turn of the century called Pilgrim's Pantry, and her mother was a professional chef and caterer, who worked for years with the legendary cookbook author, Charlotte Turgeon. Joanne spent five years cooking with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkley, California and studied with Madeleine Kamman in New England and France and was awarded a Master Chef Diploma. Her ultimate calling has been in her teaching, which has taken her throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy and as of late, Thailand. She spends seven to eight months of the year touring the globe sharing her extensive background with regard to food theory and technique, in particular Mediterranean cuisine and the regional foods of the U.S. Awarded the very first IACP Julia Child Cooking Teacher Award of Excellence in 1997, Joanne shares a lifetime of experience that flavors everything she touches. Her first book, From Tapas to Meze, was selected by Julia Child as one of her 12 personal favorites out of 1000 cookbooks published that year. From there she went on to publish a series of books for Williams Sonoma, and then to become a television personality in the PBS show "Weir Cooking in the Wine Country", shot on location in the Napa Valley. The companion book, Weir's More Cooking in the Wine Country, went on to garner a James Beard Award nomination as well as an IACP Cookbook Award. A completely revised version of From Tapas to Meze was re-released with spectacular food photographs and won the 2004 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Mediterranean Cookbook. You can learn more about Joanne on her website, www.weircooking.com. In the course of Joanne's culinary travels, a lot of endives have found their way to her plate. Her imaginative preparations reflect her love of Mediterranean cuisine with a uniquely American twist, and she's been kind enough to share several of them with us. Joanne says, "This main course dish is best served with steamed basmati rice or roasted potatoes. If any of the chicken is leftover, slice it and tuck it into halved pita with the endive, radicchio, and onions for a tasty lunch sandwich."

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Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 slices bacon (about 2 oz.), cut into 1/4" dice
• 6 medium heads California Endive, cut across into 1/2" slices
• 3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 5 ounces Fontina cheese, coarsely grated
• 1 partially baked, ready made 12-inch pizza crust or 1/2 lb. pizza dough

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 500 degrees F.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, and saute the bacon until light golden, about 3 minutes. Add the endive and continue to cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the endive begins to blister and turn golden, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the endive is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the Parmesan, lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix well.
3. Place the pizza crust on a baking sheet. If using pizza dough, roll it out on a floured work surface into a 12-inch round, and transfer it to an oiled baking sheet or directly onto a pre-heated pizza stone.
4. Spread the endive mixture on the prepared pizza round, leaving a 1" border uncovered around the edge. Scatter the Fontina on the endive. Bake until the cheese melts and the crust is crispy and golden, 6 to 8 minutes if using a partially baked crust and 10-12 minutes if using pizza dough.
5. Remove from the oven, cut into wedges and serve immediately. Serves 2 as a main course or 6 as an appetizer.

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