Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Pumpkin, Bacon, Onion and Cheese Pizza

Fall is nearly here. We are currently enjoying a few more gloriously sunny days but in the evenings you can already tell - not much longer until we can break out the winter cardigans, cook stews and soups and watch the leaves turn all kinds of amazing colours.
So, to put us into the mood, I made a pizza. With a flavour combination that just makes me smile. The pumpkin and bacon work really well together because the sweetness of the pumpkin brings out all those salty, slightly smoky flavours in the bacon. And together they make me feel like I'm in a cabin somewhere in the woods. Perhaps I should make some pumpkin soup sometime soon (with caramelised bacon sprinkled on top, perhaps).
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this pizza as much as I did and are anticipating all the great things about fall as much as I am.

Pumpkin, Bacon, Onion and Cheese Pizza
1/2 recipe Basic Pizza Dough
1/2 tbsp Flour
1/2 tbsp Butter
125 ml Milk
50g Grated Parmesan
Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg
2 Rashers Bacon
200g Pumpkin (I used 1/2 of a super cute tiny Hokaido one)
1 small Red Onion
1/2 Ball Mozzarella

Preheat your oven to 220˚C.
Heat the milk and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and keep it near boiling until the next step is done. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour and allow the mixture to bubble away, letting it brown slightly. You're aiming for a golden colour, not something dark brown. Take the flour mixture off the heat and start stirring in the milk. Once the two are combined return the saucepan to the heat and allow things to thicken. Stir in the parmesan, then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Set aside.
Cut the bacon into smaller pieces (slightly larger than an SD card - sorry, that's the only thing I have on my desk right now that is approximately the right size) and gently fry those pieces until the edges start to crispen up (not any longer, otherwise you'll end up with extra-crispy bacon pieces on your pizza.
Peel (if needed) and cut the pumpkin into slices. Most of my pieces were just under a centimetre thick. Cut the onion into 12 pieces (lengthwise) and dice the mozzarella.
Roll out the dough and lay it onto a lined baking sheet. Spread the cheesy white sauce onto the dough, then top with the bacon, pumpkin, onion, and mozzarella. You can grind some more pepper on top of everything if that is your kinda thing.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is brown in places and the crust looks done (as you can see on the picture above I was really hungry, gave up at some point and just took the pizza our of the oven a few minutes earlier than that....what can I say?! I had just come home from a run...it was slightly undercooked pizza or starvation).

What is your favourite thing about fall?

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