savory pumpkin pizza, aka, the best pizza you will ever eat. ever.

i don't know if i can express to you how much i love this pizza. it is good. so good...so good that we've had it twice this week, and so good that i even ate a slice of it at 3 in the afternoon. who eats pizza at 3 in the afternoon? guilty. and try this recipe and you will be guilty, too.  that's, of course, if you have any leftovers and if it makes it in your fridge that long. i don't know about you, but my husband likes cold pizza for breakfast. maybe 3 o'clock pizza isn't so weird....

i love pumpkin everything. pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin lattes...pumpkin carving. but i've kind of burnt myself out on the whole pumpkin theme this year. but this pizza is like a whole new element of pumpkin. not the sweet flavor you find in baked goods, but savory. so this goes out to all you crazy people without a sweet tooth who may feel you miss out on the pumpkin train every year. savory pumpkin pizza, just for you...

savory pumpkin pizza

ingredients:

• one ready to bake pizza dough
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 sweet onion, dice
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, diced
• 2 tsp. thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (opt for the fresh - its totally worth it)
• 2 cups freshly grated havarti cheese
• 1 cup arugula

preheat the oven to 350 F. for those that have a pizza stone, put the stone in the oven to warm. while the oven is heating, heat the stove on medium low heat and cook half of the onions with olive oil. you'll want to cook them on low heat for...a while. i call it caramelizing them...but they don't really caramelize. i'm not patient enough...so i just cook them until they are soft, smell fantastic, and are relatively translucent. when they are about halfway cooked, sprinkle 1 tsp. sugar on them. as they cook, continue to stir and move them around with a spatula.

next, add the pumpkin puree, garlic, shallot, thyme, and the other half of the onion to a mixing bowl. mix in the parmesan cheese. salt and pepper to taste.

 finally, follow the directions on the package for preparing the dough. this is the hardest part for me. scofield's way better at it...so i'll typically leave this step up to him. otherwise, we'll have a lumpy square pizza and who wants that.

once your dough is flat and circular, transfer it to your pizza stone and top it with the pumpkin mixture. add the arugula, and then add the grated havarti cheese. you can add a dash of salt and pepper here, too, if you would like.

the directions on the pizza dough package will instruct you to cook it anywhere from 10-12 minutes, but personally, i like to cook mine for 20-25 minutes. then again, i'll eat burnt toast for breakfast, so don't listen to me.

happy cooking!