Try a New Pizza Pie With Butternut Squash and Brie

If you're like me and love to make pizza at home, with tomatoes and bell peppers out of season right now, one sometimes has to get a little more clever when it comes to Winter pizzas. If you have already tried all of those, experiment with butternut squash as an unexpected pizza topping.

Of course, you will have to preroast the squash; I find it easiest to just roast it the night before but you could also pick up a bag of frozen butternut squash and precook it in a saute pan.

Once the squash is roasted, assembling the pizza is cinch. Drizzle the finished pizza with a touch of walnut oil, which adds even more flavor and richness. Serve it with arugula salad for an easy dinner, or slice it into smaller pizzas for an simple vegetarian appetizer. Skip delivery and make your own pizza pie by reading more for the recipe.

Butternut Squash and Brie Pizza With Arugula and Walnut Oil
From Lauren Hendrickson, YumSugar

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash (about a cup and half)
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 premade pizza dough
Flour for dusting
8 ounces brie, cut into thin slices
2 cups arugula
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons walnut oil
1/8 cup Champagne vinegar
Salt, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and coat the flesh in the olive oil.
2. Cook until the butternut squash is soft and a fork will go through the thickest side, about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the size. Set aside and let cool. Using a sharp knife, slice chunks into the squash cutting both directions and scoop the squash out with a spoon into a bowl.
3. Preheat the oven to 500ºF with a large cookie sheet or pizza stone inside. Roll or stretch the pizza dough to roughly the size of your cookie sheet or pizza stone. Using a fork, quickly make a bunch of little wholes to eliminate bubbles in the dough. Once the oven has preheated, carefully place the rolled out dough on the cookie sheet or pizza stone. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes until golden. 
4. Once the pizza dough it partially cooked, pull the pizza from the oven and quickly assemble with butternut squash, 1/2 cup of arugula, and brie. 
5. Place pizza back in the oven for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the squash is warm and the cheese has melted. 
6. While pizza is cooking, in a small bowl whisk together the 1/4 cup walnut oil and champagne vinegar. Pour the dressing over the remaining arugula.
7. Once the pizza is finished, sprinkle it with the remaining 2 tablespoons of walnut oil and season with salt.
8. Serve a slice of pizza topped with arugula salad.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Via: Yumsugar