In general, I like white pizza, but find it a bit dry. I wanted to do some sort of white pizza but with a sauce to keep it moist. I made my usual pizza dough recipe but added a 1/2 cup of parm for something different. The saltiness from the parm and the pancetta was enough, so don’t add too much to the squash purée. Here’s how I get ‘er done.

Serves 4

2lb butternut squash, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 shallot minced

2 cloves of garlic minced

handful of basil

1 cup of parm

8oz fresh mozzarella

8oz ricotta

1 cup of pancetta - I had the precut stuff from Trader Joe’s. If you cut your own make sure it’s small and will cook easily on top of the pizza

Pizza Dough Recipe

Preheat oven to 500F

For Butternut Squash Purée:

1. In a large sauté or sauce pan, heat olive oil and add garlic and shallots. Sauté them for about 4 minutes. Add squash and let it get brown, about 8 minutes. Add about 1 cup of water and cover the pan. Let the squash cook until it’s tender and getting mushy.

2. Let the squash cool a bit. Transfer it to a food processor or blender. Add the basil. Blend the squash until it makes a thick purée. If it’s too thick add a tiny bit of water, or chicken stock.

3. Roll out your pizza dough to the size of your pan. Put the dough on the pan (this is important - you don’t want to be stuck with a heavy pizza on your counter and it rips during transfer.) Spread the butternut squash over the pizza, making sure not to get it too thick. Add the mozzarella, then ricotta, then sprinkle all over with parm. Finally, sprinkle the pancetta on top. Cook in your preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes or until brown and bubbly.

Tags: butternut squash, Pizza