Pesto & Butternut Squash Pizza

So last night I made a pizza for dinner, it took longer than I anticipated and a late start didn’t help matters but I finally settled in with a couple of slices around 10 PM and it was love at first bite. I loosely followed a recipe I found on another blog and went to town preparing my butternut squash, pesto pizza. I was pretty psyched to use my newly acquired pizza stone (thanks to my mom)!

Here’s the recipe (makes one 15inch pizza):
Ball of whole wheat pizza dough
2 slices lean turkey bacon* optional
1 cup pesto prepared (or you can make your own... I was lazy)
4 slices provolone cheese
parmesan cheese (for grating on top)
olive oil
sugar
20 oz butternut squash (half of a squash or one bag frozen as I used)
1 can diced tomatoes (I used tomatoes seasoned with oregano and garlic)
oregano

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Toss thawed squash (or if you use fresh, dice it into cubes) with sugar (I used just a pinch) and olive oil (a quick drizzle). Roast for 20 minutes, stirring once half way through. *I cooked the turkey bacon in the oven at the same time*
2. Once squash is done, raise the oven temperature to 450. Roll out the pizza dough onto a floured pizza pan. Top with provolone cheese and tomatoes. Mix butternut squash with pesto and crumbled bacon and pour onto the top of the pizza. Top with oregano and parmesan cheese. Bake for 25 minutes.

Though I absolutely loved the end result, I’d make a few changes next time. I’d definitely make my own pesto (which was the plan but then time and hunger intervened) and use fresh butternut squash. Though the frozen squash held up well, it got a bit mushy during the mixing process and changed my pizza a bit aesthetically from what I was imagining. Oh well. I did think that the turkey bacon was a nice touch… I just added it because I had some in the fridge and welcomed the addition.

 

 

So it wasn’t the prettiest pizza but it was hearty and full of flavor. This recipe has inspired me to dream up other non-traditional pizza toppings!