Who knew? Butternut squash makes a silky-smooth and full-flavored pizza sauce, and the perfectly creamy base for this fall-inspired pie. Scrumptious as is, but you can also make individual size pizzas and add gouda or mozzarella for the cheese-eaters and cooked, crumbled sausage for the carnivores. Win!
Yield: 1large pizza or 3-4 individual pizzas
Ingredients
For the butternut squash sauce:
4cupscubed butternut squashapprox 1/2 of a medium 3-pound squash
1/8teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper + more to taste
For the pizza:
1pound16 ounces homemade or store-bought pizza dough (I like Trader Joe's garlic & herb crust for this recipe)
1batch butternut squash sauce
2medium applesI like Granny smith; for the pizza photographed, I used a Jonagold and a Granny Smith, cored and thinly sliced
1/2small red onionthinly sliced
1/3cuppecanschopped
2tablespoonsolive oil
A couple pinches of kosher salt or sea salt
A few leaves fresh thymeoptional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Make the sauce. Fill a large saucepan halfway full of water and set over high heat. Add butternut squash. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, 6-7 minutes.
Drain squash in a colander and let cool for a couple of minutes. Add to the pitcher of a high-speed blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with the S-blade. Add the remaining ingredients and puree until smooth. If the sauce needs to be thinned out a bit, add some more olive oil, about a teaspoon at a time.
Spread the dough into your desired shape and thickness on a cookie sheet or pizza stone. Add butternut squash sauce and spread with a spoon. Layer with apples, then onions, then pecans. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle a couple pinches of salt over the top.
Bake until the crust is golden and cooked through, the apples and onion are tender, and the pecans are toasted but not burned, about 10 minutes.
Top with fresh thyme if desired. Cut into wedges and serve.
Notes
Dairy option
Add some shredded mozzarella cheese to all or part of the pizza before baking.
Meat option
Add some cooked and crumbled sausage to the pizza before baking.