Piadina with Fontina and Prosciutto

Here is my final Giada recipe for the week. Well, a version of it anyway. This piadina (Italian flat bread) is sort of like a pizza; so I decided to cheat and use whole wheat pizza dough as a substitute for the flat bread. My twins are not feeling too hot today (stuffy noses and cranky), and I just don't want to fuss with making the dough from scratch. Instead, I will just grill up the pre-made dough that I bought from Fresh and Easy and top it as Giada recommends in this recipe. The overall effect should be similar to the intended dish.

Friday night is such a fun family night at our house, and I like serving a fun dinner to set the tone for the weekend. Hopefully, this piadina will deliver!

Piadina with Fontina and Prosciutto
Adapted From: Giada at Home cookbook; foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:
pizza dough of your choice, I am using pre-made whole wheat
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound part-skim ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
juice of 1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper and salt, to taste
6 ounces fontina cheese, shredded
4 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions:
Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough into a circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Brush the circle with the extra-virgin olive oil and grill for 4 minutes each side. Remove the dough from the grill to a sheet pan and cool slightly.

Combine the ricotta cheese,lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spread over the grilled dough with the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle the fontina cheese evenly over the ricotta cheese. Arrange the prosciutto slices on top of the cheeses. Put the sheet pan with the piadina back on the grill for 3-5 minutes and close the lid (this will melt the cheese and warm everything through). Cut piadina into 8 wedges and transfer to a serving platter. Garnish with the chopped basil.

Jen's Notes:
The original recipe (linked above) indicates to make 8 individual piadinas. I am just going to make one large one, since I am just feeding my family and not eight people. Also, I omitted the dough instructions from my post completely. If you are interested in the original, just follow the foodnetwork.com link under the recipe title.





The Result:
This was excellent! Sooooo yummy. I added the juice of one lemon to the ricotta, because the zest didn't seem like it was enough zing. It turned out perfectly! I ended up grilling the crust, taking it off of the grill and putting it on a sheet pan, adding the topping, and then put the whole thing back on the grill to melt all the cheese and warm it through (I amended the ingredients/directions to reflect my final changes). It was awesome. I will make this version again, that is for sure!