Would you believe that I’ve been haunted? That my waking hours are filled with visions of butternut squash sauces and a butternut squash penne that rivals your beloved macaroni + cheese? Believe me when I say that while I adore the unctuous layers of gouda and cheddar cheeses, while the very thought of a four-cheese mac + cheese gives me palpitations — there’s something magical about a butternut squash sauce.

I was tempted to fix one of these pasta dishes, but since I had a pound of whole wheat pizza dough in the freezer, leftover sage sausage in the refrigerator, it only made sense to turn my favorite dish into a pizza.

AND. OH. MY GOD. THIS WAS THE BEST. DECISION. I’VE. EVER. MADE.

Make this. Make this now. And guess what? It’s healthier than your normal take-out variety. And if you want to be even more virtuous, trade up the pork sausage for turkey and add some sweet caramelized onions for good measure.

INGREDIENTS*
1 lb whole wheat pizza dough
1 lb butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1/2 lb ground sage sausage, removed from the casing
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup smoked gouda cheese, grated
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 garlic clove
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
oil for the cooking sheet

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Oil a large baking dish and toss in the chunks of butternut squash. Add salt and pepper, and toss until the squash is slick and glossy. Roast the squash for thirty minutes or until tender.

While the squash is roasting away, fry up the sausage in a large sauté pan until they’re a sweet, brown and caramelized (approximately 8-10 minutes). Flouring your rolling pin and your counter, roll out your dough until it’s 10×10, 1/4 inch thick. Since my oven is something from the Holly Hobby era not able to fit anything resembling a pizza stone, I’m forced to get creative, so I oil a large cookie sheet. With your rolling pin, roll up the dough and add it to your sheet/stone, if you’re lucky enough to own a brick oven or whatnot.

Once the squash is roast tender, transfer the hot squash into a blender, adding in the milk, stock, chopped thyme + garlic, salt and pepper. Hold a damp cloth over the top of the blender as you blitz to a puree. You don’t want a liquid smoothie, per se, but you want a thick sauce.

Brush olive oil on top of the pizza dough. Spoon a thin layer of squash, leaving a 1/4 inch border. Add the sausage, cheeses, and thyme to the top.

Bake in an oven for 10 minutes, rotating half-way through, until the pizza crust is golden and cheese, unctuous and bubbling.

Serve pipping hot!!

Cooks’ Notes
As always, I never use products that contain HFCS or partially hydrogenated oils. I scored my pizza dough from Whole Foods, but feel free to ask your local pizzeria. My milk + mozzarella are part skim (this is purely reflective of my taste), and the smoked gouda gives the pizza depth of nutty, salty flavor — a perfect contrast to the sausage.