Orange

by Cynthia Graber

I think my skin might soon start to turn color.

Perhaps I'm making up for the lack of orange in my diet in months past. In the late spring and summer, I dip my fork into all shades of green. I enjoy pale to vibrant reds, creamy whites, and vibrant purples. But other than August peaches, and the occasional carrot, orange doesn't play a primary role on my plate.

Apparently my last CSA drop is attempting to change that. Yesterday, I managed to eat a bowl of carrot soup, some roasted mashed sweet potatoes with coconut milk and Thai curry paste, and the last piece of pizza with butternut squash and caramelized onions.

Orange, orange and orange.

I decided to concoct the pizza because I'd picked up a ball of frozen dough at the grocery store and hadn't done anything with it. I had onions and squash, and I picked up some sage and then headed over to Central Bottle, the new wine and cheese place in Central Square.

Guy behind the counter: "Can I help you?"

Me: "Yes. I'm looking for something that melts well - I'm making pizza with butternut squash and caramelized onions."

Him: "Sounds great!" So I knew I liked him. "Do you want to stick with cow's milk?"

Me: "No, I was actually thinking goat." I wanted earthiness to play against the sweetness of the squash and onions. Without hesitation, he scraped a taste of Twig Farm Square unpasteurized goat cheese from Vermont, and without hesitation I said yes. Delicious, earthy, complex. It has an edible rind, and he said if I sliced it thinly, the rind would add some texture to the dish as the cheese melted.

I came home and caramelized a couple of onions, adding a splash of vinegar at the end to add depth to the sweetness. (I wanted to use balsamic but was out, so I used Jerez - sherry - vinegar instead.) I diced butternut squash and roasted it with olive oil. I thinly sliced some sage leaves.

I then stretched and pulled the defrosted pizza dough into some semblance of a thin, round crust (though it wasn't at the end as thin as I'd have liked, I'm a pizza novice). Placed it on a floured pan. Spread out a layer of onions, then squash, then sprinkled sage and then salt. Finally added the cheese. This is what it looked like.

 

I put it in the oven at 475 for, oh, about 10 minutes. And here's what it looked like when done!

 

If you want to stay sweeter rather than earthier, ricotta or mozzarella would work well, too. That's the joy of pizza - it's basically a blank canvas for your flavor imagination. Next time, I'll try to make that canvas thinner.