Butternut, Red Onion and Olive Pizza

My mind is playing tricks on me, and I have the proof. I have to battle with suspiciously empty spaces in my mind where a nugget of information was supposed to reside and I um and ah my way through many a conversation these days. My concentration is absolutely shot and the other day I found myself wondering why a coffeeshop's sliding doors wouldn't open for me when it turns out they weren't sliding doors at all. It took TheHusband to nudge them open for me before I clicked. Oh the embarassment!

I normally pride myself on my quickness to grasp new information, but alas, that seems to have fallen by the wayside too these past few weeks. So it was with this butternut and olive pizza. In my mind, I could've sworn I'd seen a similar recipe for a tart, Italian in origin and the combination of the salty morsel with the sweet creamy pumpkin wannabe sounded sublime. Not to mention the lively colour contrast such a pairing would surely deliver. 

But when I googled it this morning to try and find an authentic backstory for my almost-authentic Italian topping, I came up with nothing. Riiiiggggght. The combination has been done before, sure, but as for the authentically Italian bit... mmm not so much. But authentic or not, it turned out damn tasty. Even though TheHusband preferred the alternative topping* I offered. But then, we all know by now that his tastes are not to be trusted. 

PS: Don't be too worried, the memory-loss causing condition isn't too serious. But it will last a couple more months. Luckily for me though, the other side effects are pretty darn amazing. Some might even say adorably cute. :-)

*For those TheHusband supporters/curious cats out there, the second topping option was biltong, babymarrow and peppadew. Not bad. Not bad at all really.

Butternut, Red Onion and Olive Pizza
A Creative Pot original
Makes 1 large pizza

1/2 basic pizza dough recipe
1/4 of a medium butternut, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tbsp balsamic reduction
2 tbsp tomato paste
100g grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
5 - 6 black olives, pitted and halved
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Place butternut in a medium saucepan with a little bit of water and cook, covered over medium heat until soft. This should take about ten minutes. Season to taste and stir balsamic reduction through.
2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 220C and roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface. Spread with tomato paste and scatter mozzarella over. 
3. Arrange red onion slices, butternut cubes and olive halves on the pizza base, finishing off with sprinkle of salt and a black pepper. 
4. Transfer to a baking tray/pizza stone/piece of heavy duty foil (my personal favourite!) and bake for approximately 12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the base cooked through. Remove from the oven, slice and serve.

Variation 1: Add feta for a delicious twist on the above. 
Variation 2: Boost the health benefits already present by substituting about 1/4 of the flour with wholemeal or rye flour. As an added benefit it makes the pizza more filling too.