Caramelized Onion, Rosemary & Gorgonzola Pizza

I owe this one to Adam Roberts at The Amateur Gourmet, who owes it to Alice Waters. I came across the recipe when I was having a craving and entered "caramelized onions" into the Food Blog search engine. It takes about an hour and a half from start to finish, but only about 15 minutes of that is active, so it's a great pizza to make while you're, say, watching the U.S. Open -- you can leave the onions and dough to do their thing for a couple games and check on them when John McEnroe's banter gets tiresome.

Caramelized Onion, Rosemary & Gorgonzola Pizza

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• Four red onions
• 1/4 lb. Gorgonzola cheese
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
• Salt and pepper

Rising dough

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and move one of the racks to the center of the oven. For the crust, I used the reliable Easy Whole Wheat Pizza Dough.

The caramelized onions will look something like this.

While the dough was rising in its bowl, I chopped up the onions and put them in a pan with butter and olive oil over low heat, uncovered. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. You don't need to stir them much, maybe every ten minutes or so. You'll know they're done when they're tender, brown, and sweet. It can take anywhere between an hour and an hour and a half but don't rush it! They won't properly caramelize and you will die of shame and regret. I've seen it happen.

The pizza, just before baking

Once the dough is shaped and has properly risen, spread on the onions, followed by quarter-sized gobs of Gorgonzola, about 2 inches apart. With this pizza, there IS such a thing as too much cheese. Follow with a sprinkling of fresh rosemary and sling it in the oven for ten minutes.

It's just the right combination of sweet and savory, just like pretzels and chocolate and Donny and Marie.