Week 45: Sweet and Savory Winter Pizza

My love is pizza shaped. Won’t you have a slice? It’s circular, so there’s enough to go around.

Dora J. Arod

It’s that liminal space just after Thanksgiving and Christmas where I am pretty sure any diet attempts would fail. We’ve been enjoying eating a pizza (or two or three) a week all year long and next year we have something else in mind. We’re planning 52 weeks of vegan burgers, burritos, and bowls! These are among our favorite dishes. Most are gluten and sugar free. After this year of trying out a ton of pizza recipes, we’re excited to bring you more unique vegan recipes from our kitchen next year.

The rest of this year I am cooking up a storm, using all of our flour and sugar until it runs out. I wanted to make a pizza that combines the earthy, warm flavors of winter with a bit of sweetness. Voila! This pizza is the best of both worlds. It’s got a little bit of creamy mozzarella cheese, walnuts for protein, caramelized onions, healthy apples and sweet dates. Plus it tastes really good.

It takes about 45 minutes to achieve the golden glow of caramelized onions, so do plan accordingly. I read many recipes that said it would take 30-45 minutes, and so hoped mine would be done on the shorter end of the timeframe. Nope! My partner had to go to a meeting and have a late lunch. I was able to eat this delicious pizza a few minutes after it came out of the oven. So, do give yourself enough time. You can caramelize the onions a day in advance and keep them in the fridge.

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Ingredients

• dough of choice
• 1 large yellow or sweet onion
• 6 fingerling potatoes or 1 medium yukon gold potato
• 1/2 red apple, sliced thin
• 2 medjool dates, washed and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1/2-2/3 cup of vegan shredded mozzarella cheese
• 4 oz. vegan cream cheese
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

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Instructions for Caramelizing Onions

1. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. While it warms up, prepare your onion.
2. Cut off the ends, remove the peel and outer layer of the onion and cut into thin strips.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in your frying pan and add the onions. Stir to coat.
4. Heat the onions for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can see the progress of my onions in the time stamped photos above, with Frida Kahlo watching over the whole process.
5. When the onions look like they are about to be done, add the thinly sliced apples, stir to combine, and cook another 3-5 minutes.

Have patience! This is a long process, but the results are golden brown and delicious onions. If you have a large enough pan, you can do 2 or 3 onions at a time and save the extras in the fridge to add to soups, burgers, sandwiches, etc.

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Instructions

1. Cook your fingerling potatoes. I boiled mine on the stove in water that was high enough to just cover the tops of the potatoes. Once the water boils, I reduce the heat to medium. It took about 15-20 minutes to cook them through. Alternatively you could steam them in a basket.
2. When the potatoes are done, remove them from the pot and let cool. When cool enough to touch, slice them into coin size rounds. Lightly brush with olive oil on both sides, so they do not dry out. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Roll out your dough.
4. Pinch off thumb sized gobs of vegan cream cheese and layer them across the dough. Add potato rounds. Sprinkle with a handful of vegan mozzarella.
5. Add the caramelized onions and apples.
6. Sprinkle with dates and walnuts.
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 425°. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Notes: I have made this recipe twice. Once I put the walnuts on the pizza before baking and some of them got a little burnt. If you want to get super fancy, you can coat them in maple syrup and bake them before you bake your pizza. Totally optional, of course. The dates add a nice sweetness already. You can also add a teaspoon or two of maple syrup to the apple slices before you add them to the pan of onions if you want more of a dessert pizza.