Pumpkin Pie, er, Pizza

This. Pizza. Was. Incredible.  Incredible, I tell you!!  This recipe started off as many of my recipes do.  I planned on doing one thing, then was forced, in the last minute, to take it in a totally different direction.  Necessity is the mother of invention, right?  I had initially planned on having a roasted butternut squash pizza, where I was going to thinly slice some squash, season it, roast it til delicious and then use it on the pizza.  But then the day happened, Saturday happened, and we found ourselves walking in the door at 6 pm with hungry bellies, so it kinda goes without saying that pre-roasting anything wasn’t happening at that point.  But I did have a leftover cup of canned pumpkin puree (from my Pumpkin Brown Sugar Scones) in the fridge that my husband found and we came up with this recipe as the children were climbing up our backs like wild monkeys.

I know what you’re thinking… Is this insane?  Will this even work?  Pureed pumpkin on a pizza?!   But let’s think about this for a minute… Tomato sauce is pureed tomatoes, and a tomato is as weirdly a fruit as a pumpkin is so why not? 

Why not, indeed.

Did I mention it was Incredible?

*Pizza with Pumpkin, Caramelized Onions and Sage

-Use your favorite pizza dough, or use my whole wheat recipe and stretch the dough out to your desired size on your desired baking surface.
-Spread the dough evenly with the pumpkin spread (*recipe below)
-Spread 1 onion, caramelized** over the pumpkin spread
-Sprinkle with 6-8 ounces of shredded Parrano or Asiago cheese or a combination of Parmigiano Reggiano and Aged Gouda (we used Parrano)
-Bake at desired temperature for desired amount of time (we do ours around 400 degrees on a greased cookie sheet for 15 or so minutes)
-Before serving, sprinkle with a handful of fresh sage leaves, minced

*Pumpkin Spread
-1 cup pumpkin puree
-3 ounces cream cheese
-pinch salt
-pinch sugar
-pinch ground cinnamon
-pinch ground allspice
(all to taste…it should be savory and slightly sweet to offset the bitterness of the pumpkin)

(**To caramelize onions, simply thinly slice an onion and cook on medium-low heat in some olive oil, seasoned with kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper and some sugar, until softened and golden brown.  You can make a double or triple batch of these and store in a well sealed container in the fridge for several weeks.)