Pizza with Roasted Vegetables
Pizza with Roasted Vegetables features a whole-grain pizza crust topped with zucchini, red onion, and tahini sauce! Add parmesan and mozzarella for a more traditional pizza taste, or keep it vegan and omit the cheese.
You could add or substitute a variety of vegetables here as they come into (or out of) season, but I like the simplicity of using just a few here. I also think you could get away with using less cheese or eliminating it altogether if you’re vegan – the vegetables plus the tahini sauce are interesting and flavorful enough on their own.
Like many, I’d say Mondays are my hardest day of the week, mostly because I have to get into the office by 8:30, sometimes earlier. It’s not like I am not used to this — I’ve worked for years, after all — but life is a bit different these days. Now I have to clear the cobwebs out of my own head to get organized enough so that I can get some breakfast and coffee in me, put on some semi-‘professional’ clothes — and do that times two (well — minus the semi-prof clothes bit). Gone are the days when I could fully wake up on the walk to the bus and then zone out while thinking about my first cup of Blue Bottle Coffee always made impeccably by the nice Italians near my old office. I won’t say Mondays (and Tuesdays, and occasionally also Wednesdays) are frantic, because S is still very portable and doesn’t care about what clothes she wears, but they are definitely much more … efficient … than once they were. By the time we make our way home after 5p I’m especially grateful if I’ve managed to come up with an idea for a quick dinner that will take less than 15 minutes to put together (vegetable fried rice anyone?) or have stashed a pot of soup in the fridge.
I love the specialness of this pizza. The squash is first baked with olive oil and then tossed with some gently ‘charred’ (quotes because they are not burned, but nearly so) onions and a touch of oregano. The mix of feta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses is well bolstered by a hearty whole wheat crust.
The addition of preserved lemon on this pizza would make it even nicer; now that I’m in North Africa preserved lemons are so easy to come by I have no excuse not to nestle them alongside the feta cheese. And so I think that will be my excuse to make it for next Monday’s dinner …
Meanwhile, we’ve been having a string of really quite gorgeous days here after a wicked storm — thunder and lightning at night! Buckets of rain during the day! — last week. We did some exploring this weekend and I’ve gathered up my courage and have been driving as much as I can deal with (verdict: not pleasant but far from impossible) which makes me feel pretty proud of myself (visit Casa and you’ll immediately understand what I mean). We had a friend over for drinks, sat on the patio in the sun, and then ate Guinness chocolate cake. The girl has gifted us with some long and lovely nights of sleep and that plus the spring sunshine has made our post-run cups of coffee taste extra delicious. It’s the little things: yes. Particularly, good pizza.
Pizza with Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
For Pizza Dough
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 talepsoons olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
For Pizza
Tahini Spread
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- Salt and pepper , to taste
Topping
- 3 zucchini (medium) , cut into thin rounds
- 3 teaspoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 red onion (small) , halved and sliced
- ½ swiss chard (bunch) , chopped/shredded and slightly wilted
- ½ cup mozzarrella , shredded
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese , grated
- ⅓ cup feta cheese , crumbled
Instructions
Make Dough
- Pour ½ cup of the water into a mixing bowl, stir in the yeast, ans et aside until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add the remaining water, olive oil, and salt, then add the flous, adding enough to form a shaggy dough. Turn it out onto a floured board and kneed a few minutes until smooth, adding more flour if necessary to keep it from sticking.
- Put the dough in an oiled bowl, turn once to coat, then cover with a towl and set aside to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Turn dough onto the board and divide into the number of pizzas you want (this amount would make about 4 personal pizzas I found). Shape each piece into a ball ball, cover with a towel, and let rise for another 20-30 minutes.
Make Pizza
- Heat the oven to 500℉. In a small bowl, whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, garlic Mix all of the tahini spread ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, drizzle the zuchini with the 2 teaspoons of olive oil, salt, and dried oregano. Toss to coat. Spread on a baking sheet, place in the oven, and roast for 15-20 minutes.
- To char the onions, place a (cast iron, if you’ve got one) pan over medium high heat. Add one teaspoon olive oil and char the onions for about 10-15 minutes, tossing occasionally.
- Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal or flour and roll out the pizza crust. Smoothly spread the tahini spread across the surface. Evenly sprinkle the mozzarella, zuchini, charred onions, chard, parmesan and the crumbled feta across the crust. Drizzle a little olive oil on top, place in the oven, and bake the pizza for 12-15 minutes until the edges are crisp and the cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
I am making this as soon our trips are all over! That will be June, alas, but at least I know what’s for dinner when we return.
Sounds lovely!
I’ve been meaning to try something like this since I saw it on Sara’s blog. Pretty and I loooove tahini.
Sounds like, even though it may sometimes be frantic, you’re settling in with the little one. Hope it stays exciting and interesting and not-too-crazy. —S