Focaccia with Blue Cheese, Pears and Walnuts

It is some time ago now, that I had a focaccia in a pizzeria in a small village between Locarno in Switzerland and Domodossola in Northern Italy. What was striking about it was the ideal combination of flavours and textures, blue cheese and pears, with the walnuts adding a crunch to the whole thing. Walnuts and pears are of course available in abundance in autumn, which makes this a tasty dinner when the days are gloriously colourful but are getting shorter. I tried to redo it from memory and it turned out to be pretty much how I remembered it. 

 

What you need

(the following amounts would be for two people)

• 500 gr Pizza dough (I was lazy and bought it ready made) rolled out in two 24-cm rounds
• 200 gr Gorgonzola, possibly with some Mascarpone or Crème Fraîche (not pictured) to make it more spreadable
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 pears (conference are good), sliced
• 100 gr walnuts, chopped
• optional, pepper or a raclette spice mix (pepper, nutmeg, paprika)

What you do

1. Preheat the oven to a pizza setting (ventilation and grill, 280°).
2. Distribute garlic and onions, both very thinly sliced on the dough.
3. Sprinkle with (not too finely) chopped walnuts.
4. At this point you may want to prebake this for about 3-4 minutes.
   
5. Add the sliced pears in a circle.
6. Cover with the Gorgonzola (and mascarpone/crème fraiche if using).
7. Bake for a total of about 10 minutes; the cheese topping should have started browning. 
8. Season with pepper or the raclette spice mix.