squashstravaganza! butternut squash pizza with onions, goat cheese, and sage

After the phenomenal success of Pumpkinpalooza this fall, I wanted to follow it up with some winter Squashstravaganza!

Remember these guys?

Oh, hi there butternut squash.

These guys are delicious roasted and put on pizza. We eat homemade pizza somewhat regularly, and I often take photos, and they’re never good, so I never post it. Sorry. These aren’t great, but the pizza was too delicious not to share.

Peel the squash, cut it in half and scoop out any seeds, dice it, toss the cubes with a little olive oil and salt, and roast them for about 20-25 minutes.

While that’s roasting, we need to caramelize some onions. Your basic yellow (sometimes called brown) onions actually work the best for this because of their low moisture content. I like to cut mine root-to-tip then cut semicircular slices, it’s the right size for pizza. Heat up some olive oil or butter in a skillet over medium-low heat and toss the onions in there. Stir a few times, then ignore them while you prep the pizza dough.

A hunk of pizza dough was left in the freezer from my last batch, so I thawed that and stretched it out on a baking pan since I don’t have a pizza stone. This particular crust was whole wheat with some rosemary mixed in. Because I like thin crust, I also like to par-bake my pizza crusts before adding toppings to prevent sogginess. Stretch dough, poke with fork to prevent air bubbles, bake for 5-7 minutes until just golden but not brown.

Oh, stir the onions a few times during that. Toss in a few tablespoons of water and enjoy the satisfying cloud of steam, then stir the onions to coat them in the deglazed deliciousness.

Now you have your par-baked crust, roasted squash pieces, and caramelized onions. Chop up some fresh sage (dried will work in a pinch) and get out some goat cheese. Brush the crust generously with olive oil, scatter the caramelized onions evenly on top, then the squash, then the cheese, then sprinkle sage over all of it. I also added a spare sprinkling of sea salt and a generous amount of fresh ground pepper.

Bake that whole thing for another 7-10 minutes until the edges of the crust are golden brown. Since the toppings are pre-cooked, you’re just warming up the cheese and finishing the crust here.

This is maybe a little more squash than needed, but I was trying to use up all three tiny squashes we had. If you have extra, just roast it all. I have an awesome recipe coming up that uses the leftovers.

Butternut Squash Pizza

Ingredients:
1 ball pizza dough
1 1/2 cups diced butternut squash
1 yellow onion, cut in semicircular slices
2 ounces goat cheese
2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:
1.) Preheat the oven to 425F. Toss the diced squash with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Spread the squash in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes at 425F until tender. Turn the oven up to 450F.

2.) Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and stir until coated. Let onion soften, turning down the heat if it starts browning, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Add a few tablespoons of water to deglaze the pan and stir well. Remove pan from heat when onions are reduced in volume and very soft.

3.) Stretch or roll out pizza dough onto a baking sheet or pizza pan. Use a fork to generously prick the dough. Bake at 450F for 5-10 minutes until dough is set but not browned (this will depend on your oven and the thickness of your crust).

4.) Drizzle the pizza crust with olive oil. Evenly spread the onions on top, then the squash, then scatter pieces of goat cheese, and top it all with the sage. Bake at 450F for 5-10 minutes until the edges of the crust are golden brown. Sprinkle sparingly with sea salt and generously with ground pepper if desired.

Tagged as: "goat cheese", onions, pizza, squash