Butternut Squash Pizza

A Cooking Marathon, after procrastinating...

The other day, I started cooking the kitchen, so to speak.  I started using up all of the foods in my refrigerator that had been purchased awhile ago.  The ones that had overstayed their short term residency.  What makes me procrastinate at times, I wonder, and not accomplish tasks that just need to get done?  Sometimes, after going to all the trouble of buying beautiful fresh ingredients, I stumble and fall, drop out of the race, and wind up not cooking them, though I wake each morning, thinking I should.   This results in things like the flounder which I purchased five days ago,  becoming a crime victim.  Since it was not cooked within the two to three day time limit for storing fresh fish in the refrigerator, it had to be tossed out with the compost.  My situation brings to mind a quote from a John Lennon song, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

The other day, in the afternoon, I surprised myself.  Instead of procrastinating on cooking, I chose to procrastinate on doing local errands, and wound up cooking a vegetable pasta with a creamy feta cheese sauce.  Something made up in the moment, inspired by the ingredients at hand.   I chopped up a bunch of onions, sautéed them in olive oil, and cooked them at low heat for a good half hour or more so that they caramelized. Then I added a chopped up red pepper, and a green one too, as well as a handful of cherry tomatoes which I quartered before adding them to the pan.  I cooked a box of linguine, al dente, and finished it off in the pan with the veggies.  I crumbled a delicious Bulgarian feta cheese into the pan, and slowly added about a cup of the pasta water, a little at a time to create a sauce.  The  pasta finished cooking in the pan, getting coated with the sauce created by the mixture of the sautéed veggies, feta cheese, and pasta water.  The finished dish, served in a pasta serving bowl, looked lovely, and so appetizing.  There is something about a low, wide, pasta bowl, that makes a finished pasta look extra appealing.

And then there was one....

After making the pasta from a food jazz riff in my head, there was one vegetable left in the bin to cook.  A butternut squash, which is a big ol' winter squash.  So I picked three cookbooks off the shelves, and checked out the butternut squash recipes in each.  After doing due diligence, studying each of the recipes at hand, I settled upon a recipe from the Alice Waters cookbook called "Vegetable Cooking."  The recipe I chose was for a butternut squash pizza, which Alice describes as being "very rich."

For those of you not familiar with this cookbook, you really should check it out.  The book contains stunning illustrations by Patricia Curtan.

Once, one summer, when I saw the singer/songwriter, Lucy Kaplansky perform in an outdoor park for free, I observed her jumping up and down while she performed the beginning of a song.  She was literally shaking off her lethargy.  She energized herself in order to get into the song, get the song moving, and herself along with it.  Maybe if I did something similar, when I didn't want to cook, I could energize myself out of my own procrastination.  And so dear reader, imagine me jumping up and down to energize myself, before starting to make this recipe.  Better yet, I will put on some music and dance my way around the kitchen, as I prepare and cook a Butternut Squash Pizza.  Come dance with me, dear reader, and do try this recipe, too.  The garlic infused olive oil, the fried sage, and the squeeze of lemon at the end, all add flavor layers to the whole, so I encourage you to go the extra mile and not skimp on these steps.  You will be glad you made this recipe as written, for there is a flavor surprise when you are done.  Enjoy!

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, "Well... how did I get here?"

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

And you may ask yourself, "How do I work this?"
And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife"

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

Water dissolving and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

And you may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
And you may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God! What have I done?"

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was and look where my hand was
Time isn't holding up, time isn't after us
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Letting the days go by, same as it ever was

Here a twister comes, here comes the twister
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Once in a lifetime, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by

4.5 from 2 votes

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Butternut Squash Pizza

I used a David Tanis recipe for my pizza dough, but used half all purpose flour, and half whole wheat. INGREDIENTS 2 teaspoons/5 grams dry active yeast 4 ½ cups/625 grams all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting 2 teaspoons/5 grams kosher salt 2 tablespoons/30 milliliters olive oil PREPARATION Put 1 ¾ cups/420 milliliters lukewarm water in a mixing bowl (use a stand mixer or food processor if you prefer). Sprinkle yeast over water and let dissolve, about 2 minutes. Add flour, salt and olive oil and mix well until flour is incorporated and dough forms, about 5 minutes. It may look a little rough or pockmarked. Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Turn dough out onto surface and knead lightly until it looks smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Cut dough into 4 equal pieces, about 8 ounces/225 grams each. Wrap dough pieces individually in resealable zipper bags and refrigerate for several hours or, for best results, overnight; you can also freeze it for future use. (You can skip this rise in the refrigerator and use the dough right away, but this cool, slow rise makes it easier to stretch and gives the pizza a crisper texture and more nuanced flavor.) To use dough, form each piece into a smooth, firm ball, and place on a flour-dusted or parchment-lined baking sheet. (If you froze the dough, leave it at room temperature for several hours first, or defrost overnight in the refrigerator.) Flour lightly, cover loosely with plastic wrap and top with a kitchen towel. Leave to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Each dough ball with make a 10-inch diameter pizza.

Course Pizza

Cuisine American

Author Alice Waters

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash about 1 pound
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• Pizza dough for 1 pizza
• ¼ cup grated mozzarella cheese
• ¼ cup grated Gruyere cheese
• 12 sprigs parsley
• 20 sage leaves
• ½ lemon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Slice off the top of the squash about ½ inch under the stem and slice just enough off the bottom to remove the remnants of the withered flower stem; be careful not to cut into the seed cavity. Split the squash in half crosswise just above the bulge. Stand each half end up ad carefully cut away all the skin. Cut each portion in half lengthwise and scoop the seed and fiber from the lower half with a spoon. Cut the quarters cross-wise int ¼ inch slices. The upper portions will yield half-moon slices, and the lower sections elongated C shapes.

   
3. Brush the slices with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and arrange them in one layer on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 30 to 60 minutes, checking from time to time. The roasting time will vary according to the sugar and moisture content and the density of the squash. It is done when lightly browned and tender to the touch.
   
4. Meanwhile, peel and chop the garlic finely, and add to about ¼ cup olive oil. When the squash slices are done, remove from the oven. Put a pizza stone in the oven and boost the heat to 450 to 500 degrees F.
   
5. Roll out a circle of pizza dough, brush with the olive oil and garlic, and sprinkle evenly with the mozzarella and Gruyere. Arrange the slices of cooked squash over the cheese. Bake the pizza for about 10 minutes, until the crust is browned, and the cheeses have melted.
   
6. While the pizza is baking, chop the parsley leaves. Fry the sage leaves briefly in hot olive oil, then drain them on an absorbent towel. When the pizza is done, garnish with the sage leaves, the chopped parsley, and a squeeze of lemon.
   
7. This is a very rich pizza and is best served in small portions, as an appetizer.