Heather Rolland

Butternut Squash Pizza with Balsamic Onions and Camembert

Pizza dough:

1 cup water

1 cup butternut squash (roasted but not pureed)

Heat in saucepan together until hot.  Puree.  Should be thin, watery: add more water if it is too thick.  It should be warm but not hot.

Add:

1 Tbsp yeast (or 1 package)

1 Tbsp sugar

Wait until yeast has proofed (about 5-10 mins) then add

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup whole wheat flour

Stir thoroughly.

Add all purpose flour, ½ cup at a time, until the dough feels “right.”  Should be about 2 ½ to 3 cups of white flour.  Stir it in until your arm feels like it’s breaking off, then turn the dough out and knead.  Add flour until dough is no longer sticky.  Knead until it feels like your earlobe, and “has great life.” (I don’t know what that means.  It came from some bread book.)

Lightly oil your bowl and roll your dough in it until entire surface is covered in olive oil.  Set to rise for about an hour.

Make Balsamic onions:

(recipe is taken from the Field of Greens cookbook)

6 medium to large red onions

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

¼ cup water

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Cut off tops and bottoms of onions, and remove papery outer layers.  Roll onions in oil, salt and pepper all sides liberally, and place, standing up, in a baking dish.  Arrange all onions shoulder to shoulder like this, and roast at 375 degrees for at least an hour and a half.  Onions should be cooked through, but not utterly pooped.  Take them out of the oven, remove from pan and use the water to deglaze the pan.  Pour water with pan drippings and balsamic vinegar into a saucepan, and cook over medium heat for a few minutes, reducing the mixture somewhat.

Slice onions in half and pour balsamic reduction over the cut sides.  Let sit until ready to use.

Back to the dough:

Punch down the dough, and knead it a little.  Using a dough cutter or a sharp knife, cut the dough in half, and then decide: in half again (4 pieces) or into thirds, or just leave it as two big pieces.  I like “pizzette” size and cut the dough into quarters.  I froze two and used two.

Shape the dough.  I use my hands.  Rolling pin works too.  Place on a pizza stone.

Preheat the over to 450.

If you have fresh sage, snip fresh sage over the dough.  Add toppings: take half a balsamic onion and cut into slivers.  Cover the dough with onions, then slices of camembert cheese.  Let it rise again like this for twenty minutes (if you have the time and can stand it!), or pop it into the hot oven.  Depending upon the thickness of your crust and the thickness of your toppings, baking could take between 10 and 30 minutes.  Watch the crust: remove from oven when crust is lightly golden brown and looks (as best as you can tell) done.

Enjoy!

What's an eft?  An eft is a terrestrial form of an aquatic newt.  Yup - they live on land for a while before they head back into the water.  Kind of an amphibious teenage thing - born in water, swim around for a while, then climb out and spend a few years on land, and then, once they're all done sewing their eftian oats - back to the pond.

So what's that got to do with anything? Admittedly, not much.   

The Blue Eft is an imaginary pub, where characters from Finders, Seekers, Losers, Keepers and Honey Melon Fudge hang out, listen to jazz and blues, and share their lives.

Check back for frequently updated menus, recipes, drink ideas, and links to local [real!] places that might have Blue Eft tendencies.