Pumpkin Pizza
I love pizza and one of the best parts of making your own at home is that you can experiment with some different flavors. A while back when my pumpkin obsession was in full swing, I thought I’d toy around with making a pumpkin pizza.
Much to my delight, the end result was great. The sauce was simple and lightly spiced, aiming to highlight the star: pumpkin. The toppings were a bit of a hodgepodge, but they all worked really well and made for a pizza that really hit the spot: ground beef, cubes of roasted squash, pine nuts, shredded leeks, sundried tomatoes, olives, and crumbles of sharply flavored feta cheese. I know–try saying that three times fast.
I was initially worried that the feta would be too strong, but it actually paired quite nicely. The sauce wasn’t as strongly pumpkinny as I’d wanted it to be, but it was still distinctly pumpkin. The olives added a richness that cut through the feta nicely and the meat was a good pair (chorizo would work nicely, too).
Also, since I’m always looking to improve on my pizza dough, I tried some new techniques that I’ll definitely be repeating.
- Dough (good for 2 pizzas, or one thick crust)
- 3 cup flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1.75 tsp active dry yeast
- 1.5 tsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- Pumpkin Sauce
- olive oil
- 1 shallot
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 cup pumpkin
- 1 cup veg broth
- thyme
- sage
- salt
- pepper
- 1 dried New Mexican chili
- ~20-25 kalmata olives
- 1 leek
- ~8 sundried tomato halves
- 1/2 of an acorn squash
- ~6-8 oz feta cheese
- small handful (~1/8-1/4 cup) pine nuts
- ~3/4 lb ground beef
First, prepare the pizza dough as that needs time to rest.
Then, on to the sauce. Begin by dry toasting the pepper in a pan for a minute or two. Sauté the minced shallot in a bit of olive oil for 6 minutes and then add the minced garlic for 1 minute more.
Now, add the pumpkin purée to the pan along with the vegetable broth, herbs, and seasoning. Simmer for 5 minutes before pureeing in the food processor. Continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes further until you’re happy with the texture. The sauce is done so set it aside for now.
Now for the toppings. I use a pizza stone, so that requires at least 45 minutes of preheat time in the oven on the highest setting. While that’s going on, rub a halved acorn squash with olive oil, salt, pepper, and let it roast in the oven. When fork tender, skin it, cube it, and set it aside.
In a dry pan, toast the pine nuts for 2 minutes or so. Set them aside.
Now, brown the meat in the pan, sauteing until cooked through. Drain grease and set the meat aside.
Finally, chop the leek finely along with the sundried tomatoes. Sauté the leek for 5 minutes and add the tomato for 2 more. Set this aside.
Finally, ensure there’s no pits in your olives and break them up to bite-sized pieces. You’re now armed with all of your toppings.
Finally, working quickly, toss your dough to the size appropriate for your pizza stone. Throw a generous sprinkle of cornmeal (to prevent sticking), lay on the dough, ladle on the sauce, and toss on the toppings (if you have more handy than you can fit on your pizza, don’t overcrowd it–just hang onto it and eat them later). Bake this in the oven for roughly 10 minutes.
Enjoy!
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