Two months ago he came marching into the kitchen in his underwear, holding a cherry tomato aloft.
“Toot toot, tomato express coming through!” my seven-year-old proclaimed, like some sort of town crier announcing a regal entrance.
At 6:30am this kind of enthusiasm is annoying.
“Only one cherry tomato?” I say with a sigh. “That’s not a great harvest.”
“It’s the butternut squash, Dad,” he says, popping the tomato in his mouth. “It’s taken over the tomato plants.”
He’s right, of course. Our garden plots that started as a pandemic project have evolved over the last nearly-two years, going from easy-to-grow tomatoes and cucumbers to exotic plantings of purple pole beans, bushes of hot peppers, and now these butternut squash vines that have decided no living thing will stand in the way of expansion.
We have gourds growing everywhere. And now sitting everywhere inside.
The garden plots are now barren, but like unintentional autumn décor, these bulbous pale squash sit on our kitchen counter, in the pantry, on the fireplace (because some have to be decoration, right?).
It’s all very on-theme, though, because fall in America has turned into gourd season. They’re pushed more than ever when you walk into your grocery store, like you can’t leave unless you buy a pumpkin, an acorn squash, a butternut, a delicata.
“What are we going to do with all of this butternut squash?” that same seven-year-old asked the other morning.
“How about soup,” I offered. He looked out at the fall morning now a bit crisper than before, and said, “No thanks.”
“Ok,” I said, “how about pizza?”
“Squash on a pizza? Gross!” he responded.
“Not gross,” I said, “delicious.”
And so it came to pass, that cold autumn night, that I served my boys a gross squash, sausage, and spinach pizza.
And they ate every bite.
Pizza dough (homemade or store bought)
White sauce (homemade or store bought)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Half a small butternut squash, thin sliced
½ cup browned sausage or turkey bacon
2 handfuls of Fifth Season spinach
1/4 sliced onion
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese to finish
Pizza dough (homemade or store bought)
White sauce (homemade or store bought)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Half a small butternut squash, thin sliced
½ cup browned sausage or turkey bacon
2 handfuls of Fifth Season spinach
1/4 sliced onion
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese to finish
Pizza dough (homemade or store bought)
White sauce (homemade or store bought)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Half a small butternut squash, thin sliced
½ cup browned sausage or turkey bacon
2 handfuls of Fifth Season spinach
1/4 sliced onion
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese to finish
1. Set your oven to 500 degrees.
2. Peel and thin slice your squash. I prefer to use the bowl of the gourd (seeded of course).
3. Drizzle the squash with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes until the squash start to roast nicely, or brown the squash in the rendered sausage/bacon grease.
4. Spread out the pizza crust and cover with white sauce, leaving room for a nice edge.
5. Lay down just a very thin layer of mozzarella over your white sauce. Arrange the squash in a round pattern, like a clock, on the pizza.
6. Add the meat, onions, and most of the spinach. Dust with oregano.
7. Add the remaining mozzarella and spinach on top. A drizzle of olive oil is good here, too.
8. Bake at 500 for 10-15 minutes.
9. Sprinkle with the Parmesan, as much as you like.
This is a hit with kids and adults alike, and you can customize with olives, basil, or any other toppings that you’d want.
