Butternut and Caramelized Onion Pizza

I’ll try to keep this post short because I’m about to go for a walk.  We are enjoying (Canadian) Thanksgiving today with my wife’s family.  It’s a lovely fall day here in the Ottawa Valley on the Eastern side of Ontario.   My Young Assistant is making a puzzle with his uncle, Madame is reading, several members of the family are working on gluten-free pie crusts (we have 4 GF people in the family), I have a couple loaves of bread rising, our local turkey is in the oven, and it’s a beautiful day!  We got silly after church and took a bunch of family photos….  And although the following recipe is not Thanksgiving food, it definitely is a great Fall pizza (and check out our other local pizza ideas from around the year)!

Silly fall times...

Jon by the barn

Our younger assistant

Our family

On Wednesday I had leftover pizza dough in the fridge from my Young Assistant’s birthday party a few days before.  It was just the boys and I for dinner because Madame was in Toronto for work.  I pulled the dough out and assessed what ingredients were available for toppings.  Leftover whipped butternut squash in the fridge from the night before.  Onions.  Walnuts.  Greens growing in the garden.  An emergency stash of mozzarella in the freezer and a small amount of goat cheese.  I did a quick search for foods that can accompany butternut and decided some caramelized onions and wilted greens would do nicely.  Oh and I did a second pizza that was much simpler that the boys preferred, it just had sauce and cheese….  So here’s the butternut pizza that emerged:

Butternut and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Butternut and Caramelized Onion Pizza Topped with Wilted Greens

Ingredients:

  • whipped butternut* (½  cup or more)
  • ½ cup onion (or more), chopped and fried with a bit of olive oil until nicely caramelized (5-10 minutes)
  • ½ cup walnuts
  • 5-10 leaves of chard/spinach/other green, chopped coarsely
  • mozzarella (grated or sliced thinly)
  • soft goat cheese (crumbled)
  • olive oil
  • balsamic vinegar
  • pizza dough (I recommend this one)

Stretch your pizza dough and top with the whipped butternut.  Add the cheeses, caramelized onions, and walnuts.  Cook at 500 for 4-5 minutes.  Meanwhile chop the greens and toss them in a small amount olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Open the oven and quickly add the greens on top of the pizza and cook 2-3 more minutes, until they are wilted.  Enjoy!

Butternut and Caramelized Onion Pizza