Fall Colors, Fall Flavors, Fall Pizza

Sundays are usually work days for me, getting all my class materials for the week posted and other prep work for school. They are also my “long run” days since I started marathon training again. I’m hoping to do the full Rock ‘n Roll Marathon here in Phoenix in January – if the pandemic numbers allow. I did the half last year and it was an absolute blast! Bands every mile and a concert in the park featuring the Gin Blossoms afterwards. It’s also my favorite day to get creative in the kitchen and have a glass of champagne with brunch/lunch or whatever meal it ends up being.

About a week ago, a Facebook acquaintance posted a picture of a pizza she had while on vacation in Montana. It had fennel sausage, squash, beets, basil pesto, and goat cheese. Some people are inspired to find the restaurant when they see something unique and yummy like that. Me? I’m inspired to make it!

Whipping up a quick pizza dough is easy, I already had a small squash setting on the counter, homemade pork sausage in the freezer, and a huge basil plant on my front patio, so I was most of the way there. The rest involved a quick stop at the store.

All through my ten mile run this morning and church I patiently waited to come home and put this together. It turned out fabulously! It’s full of healthy vegetables and since I made everything from scratch except the cheese, I know exactly what’s in it.

It took about 2 hours from when I got home to having it on my plate, but since I love doing it, I didn’t mind. Plus it made 4 big servings, and I’m by myself (even if the hubby were here, I’d still be eating it by myself 🙂 ), so that’s three evenings this week I won’t have to cook.

Let’s start with the dough.

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 Tbs yeast
• 1 Tbs sugar
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
• about 2 1/2 cups of flour

Add the yeast and sugar to the water and let it set for 10 minutes or so until it is nice and foamy. (While I was waiting, I cut the squash in half, cut the ends off the beets, seasoned them with S&P and put them in the Instant Pot – on the trivet with a cup of water in the pot – and set it for 10 minutes.)

Finish the dough by adding the olive oil, salt, granulated garlic, and about 1 1/2 cups flour and mixing it well. Then add flour gradually and mix until it doesn’t stick to your hands or the sides of the bowl. Knead it for a couple of minutes right in the bowl, cover with a damp dish towel and set it somewhere warm for about 30 minutes. Outside still works in AZ 🙂

While the dough is rising, prep the rest of the ingredients.

We have our own homemade sausage, so I used that. Use whatever you have/like/can find. I ground fennel seeds and added it to the sausage. The fennels adds an amazing flavor.

Brown the sausage and set aside. I used a grill sheet on the smoker since I was going to use it to bake the pizza anyway.

While the sausage is cooking, make the pesto. Chop a handful of fresh basil and 2-3 large cloves of garlic and mix it with a few tablespoons of olive oil. I used my pestle to mash it together even more.

Chop any other veggies you want to add. I used portobello mushrooms and onions. By now the squash and beets will be done in the Instant Pot and the pressure should have released naturally. Put the beets into a bowl of ice water while you chop the squash. Peel the beets and chop them as well.

The dough should also have risen at this point. Punch it down and let it rest for about ten minutes.

Everything should be ready now to assemble and bake! I make my pizzas on the grill all the time down here. The flavor is amazing and it keeps me from having to heat up the house on a hot day.

Roll out the dough and put it on a hot grill sheet for about 5 minutes to get the bottom baked a bit.

Flip the crust and start layering ingredients, beginning with brushing on the pesto. I rarely use pizza sauce. Usually I just brush the crust with olive oil and chopped garlic. That way I can taste the other ingredients on the pizza.

I put the mushrooms and onions on next since they weren’t cooked. Then I layered the sausage, beets and squash, and topped it with the goat cheese and shredded parmesan.

Grill it over low-medium heat until the crust is as done as you like it. With a thicker crust and all the ingredients, if you have the grill too hot, the crust will burn before the toppings are hot and the cheese melted.

The savory and earthy flavors of the pizza were the perfect contrast with the bubbles and acidity of the Charles Frey Extra Brut.

When I put the ingredients into MyFitnessPal, it came up with the following nutritional information for 1/4 of the pizza:

• Calories – 679
• Carbs – 75
• Fat – 30g
• Protein – 26g

Let me know if you make this and how you like it. As for me – I’d run 10 miles for this any day. Thank goodness I won’t have to for a few days! 🙂