If you feel like your pizza routine is getting a little dull, mix things up with some seasonal produce this winter. Here are three great and affordable winter vegetables that can taste really great when prepared correctly on your pizza.
#1 Beets
Beets are too often relegated to being a side dish to big dinners, like Thanksgivings, or used as a simple salad topping. However, beets can add a dash of flavor and texture to your pizza, and they are really affordable to purchase during the winter time. They also add a great dash of color to your pizza as well.
If you want to use beets on your pizza, you are going to want to wash and trim the beets, then cook them in a little oil in a pan on your stove until the beets are soft to the touch when you try to pierce them with a fork or a knife. Once they are well cooked, you should be able to pull the skins off the beets, slice them up, and put them on your pizza. They have a slightly sweet taste when put on your pizza.
Beets work really well with cheeses that have a saltier profile such as goat cheese, Gorgonzola and Parmigiano. They also work really well when paired with walnuts, chives, dill, or even mint on your pizza.
#2 Potatoes
Potatoes seem to be great in just about any form, including as a pizza topping. There is so much variety in the potato family, allowing you to really experiment and figure out what type of potatoes you like best on your pizza, be it some sweet potatoes or some Peruvian purple potatoes or good-old russet potatoes.
To prepare potatoes for your pizza, you are going to want to slice them nice and thin; a slicer works really well for this task. Potatoes work really well with rich and flavorful cheese, such as Manchego, Gorgonzola, Gouda and jack cheese. They pair well with meat toppings, such as Italian sausage, salami, bacon, or even chicken. When you put potatoes on your pizza, feel free to spice them up with some garlic, thyme, or rosemary. Potatoes are very versatile and work well with almost anything, allowing you to experiment with your pizza toppings.
#3 Squash
Finally, square is really affordable during the winter time and makes a great pizza topping. If you want to make a sweeter-tasting pizza, squash is the way to go. You'll want to take the squash and cube it up, and then cook the squash in your oven. Make sure that you spice up the squash well with some cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, or even vanilla extract. When the squash is cooked, slice it up nice and thin and put it on top of your pizza.
Squash works very well with tastier and experimental topping choices, such as pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, cinnamon, and ginger. For meat toppings, choose options such as ham and other braised meats. For cheese pairings, go with flavorful Italian cheeses such as Pecorino and Parmigiano.
Mix up your pizza toppings this year by using one of the three seasonal vegetables listed above on your next pizza. For more ideas on pizza topping options, check out pizza restaurants like Original Italian Pizza Pa.
Share15 December 2016
As soon as I started traveling a lot for work, I realized that I was going to be eating out--a lot. Instead of just visiting the same old fast-food restaurants that I had grown up with, I decided that it would be great to explore exciting new restaurants. I started small, by going to little places that had earned high ratings, and then I worked my way up to some of the more fancy establishments in the area. It was really great to see what I was able to find, and I was super pleased to explore so many new kinds of foods. Check out this blog for tips on enjoying new restaurants.
