Thursday, July 7, 2011

Butternut Squash and Sage Pizza

As many of you may know our garden is in full swing, this summer I've grown so much butternut squash I don't know what to do with it all!  Luckily, I found this recipe in my Vegetarian cookbook and as usual we modified it to be a bit more healthier.  Here's our version:

Pre-Cheese.

What you'll need:
Crust:
1/2 tsp dried yeast (we were making our crust without yeast since we didn't like how long it took, but I'm glad we used it, the crust is so much better than the baking soda versions)
pinch of raw organic sugar or sucanat
2 cups unbleached white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp ORGANIC butter
2 tbsp ORGANIC olive oil

Topping:
2 Shallots finely chopped
1 (home grown) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed.
16 sage leaves (careful breastfeeding mamas, sage can dry up your milk, we used about half just to be safe)
14 oz can of ORGANIC BPA FREE tomato sauce or the equivalent fresh.
1 cup shredded ORGANIC RAW mozzarella cheese
4 oz. or 1/2 cup ORGANIC goat's cheese
fresh salt and pepper to taste

Pre-Oven.

Directions:
Take 1 1/4 cups hot water in a glass measuring cup, add sugar and yeast until frothy on top (about 15 minutes).
Mix flour and salt into a large bowl, make a well in the center.
Pour in yeast water mix and olive oil.
Mix until smooth dough, knead, put back in the bowl cover, set in warm place (on top of an oven or in the Arizona heat), allow to rise for at least 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400*F oil large baking sheet (or 4 smaller ones for individual pizzas).
Put butter and oil in a roasting tin and heat in the oven for a few minutes.
Add the chopped shallots, cubed squash and half of the sage leaves.
Toss with butter mix to coat.
Roast for 15-20 minutes.
Raise oven to 425*F and roll out the dough.
Transfer to baking sheet and pour on tomato sauce, leaving a 1/2inch border all around, spoon sauce around evenly.
Add the squash sage mix.
Top with goat cheese and mozzerella cheese, scatter remaining sage leaves around the top add salt and pepper.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cheese has melted and crusts are golden.


***Advice*** make the crust the night before, then you won't feel like you're waiting 3 hours to eat.  I have no patience, but in this case I had to wait, and it was worth it.  Butternut squash is a lot of work, peeling with a potato peeler helps make it go quicker.  dry left over sage for teas and compost the squash seeds.

Happy Pizza Making.

2 comments:

  1. Variation: Try seasoning the crust, I used garlic but I'm sure other seasonings would be good as well. Just brush olive oil around the edges of the crust and sprinkle your seasoning of choice around! :)

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