Friday, April 5, 2013

Sunset Pizza: Mango, Pepperoni, Red Onion and Yellow Pepper (Pizza Night!)

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/04/sunset-pizza-mango-pepperoni-red-onion.html
Crystal is on the left, Quartz on the right--pre-manicure.

If you've ever spent time around guinea pigs you know they are quite comfortable expressing their preferences.  My female guinea pig, Crystal, loves cantaloupe.  [Her cage-mate, Quartz, will eat anything.]  Because I have a tender spot for these pampered spoiled rescued pigs, I keep an eye out for cantaloupe out of season.  When I saw a marked down container of mixed cut fruit, heavy on the cantaloupe, I picked it up for Crystal.
Why am I blogging about this?  The container also had mango in it, and I wanted to try mango on a pizza.  Sorry, Quartz.  That stuff is mine.
 I've wanted to try mango on a pizza for a while now.  I find banana on a pizza delicious, and pineapple on a pizza is commonly accepted, so why not mango?  Because we are living in the midwest, tropical fruits are not part of our CSA farm share.  We get strawberries, blackberries, and pears.  So I shop my grocery store for seasonal fruit and put up the amazing deals that I can't pass up.  Usually, though, mango is not a regular purchase, so I was thrilled with this opportunity.

So was Crystal.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/04/sunset-pizza-mango-pepperoni-red-onion.html

Since I've been making some crazy pizzas for the family lately (2 words:  egg. nog.  and not for dessert) I decided to keep this one pretty standard.  A standard half white flour and half whole wheat flour crust.  A standard pizza sauce.  Standard cheese.  And a bit of pepperoni.  But I am all about using what I've got, and what I've got today is yellow pepper and red onion, so they are going on this pizza too.  All these red and yellow ingredients make us (the moms at wheelchair basketball practice where I am writing this up on Saturday morning) think of a sunset.  So, Sunset Pizza it is.
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/04/sunset-pizza-mango-pepperoni-red-onion.html

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/04/sunset-pizza-mango-pepperoni-red-onion.html
I weighed the flour for the crust.  Love that--so easy! That's 2 cups!

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/04/sunset-pizza-mango-pepperoni-red-onion.html

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/04/sunset-pizza-mango-pepperoni-red-onion.html

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/04/sunset-pizza-mango-pepperoni-red-onion.html

Sunset Pizza (Mango, Pepperoni, Red Onion and Yellow Pepper Pizza)


1 pound pizza dough (see my Pizza Primer here)
1/2 cup pizza sauce
2 Tablespoons chopped mango (could go up to 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped yellow pepper (could have a bit more)
2 Tablespoons pepperoni (about 6 slices, quartered)
1 teaspoon chopped red onion (could go up to 1 tablespoon)
1 1/2 cups five cheese Italian blend shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you have a pizza stone, just let it live in your oven.  Trust me, it will be happier in there than in the bottom of the drawer.  If you don't have a pizza stone, use a cookie sheet.
On an oiled sheet of parchment, stretch out the dough into a circle or rectangle or trapezoid.  Top with sauce, spread nearly to the edges.  Scatter the rest of the toppings evenly across the dough.  I do them individually to make sure each piece has a good amount of each topping, but do what works best for you.  On this pizza I did leave a section free of everything but sauce and cheese, in case my daughter took umbrage to the presence of peppers and pepperoni.  She ended up eating it all.  Scatter cheese across the entire pie.  Bake, on the parchment, for 5-8 minutes.  Then shake the parchment out from under the pizza (I do NOT recommend practicing this technique with your grandmother's crystal and a tablecloth) and continue baking for another 3-5 minutes until the cheese is browned and bubbly.
Cool on a rack for a few minutes, then slice and serve.

What tropical fruit would you like on a pizza?

This post has linked up with the Farm Girl Blog Fest at Let This Mind Be In You, the Clever Chicks Blog Hop at The Chicken Chick, the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up at Gastronomical Sovereignty, What's Cookin' Wednesday at Buns In My Oven, What's In The Box at In Her Chucks, and Taste and Tell Thursdays..
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/04/sunset-pizza-mango-pepperoni-red-onion.html
Yes, the right half is plain cheese.  Some people.

22 comments:

  1. I love pineapple on pizza, but never thought of using mango! This looks great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beth,
      I feel like there's a whole world of savory pizzas with fruit out there, just waiting to be discovered. I've got a couple of blueberry versions in the works, and am dreaming of others.

      Thanks!

      Delete
  2. They are tooooo cute! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alyssa,
      They are surprisingly photogenic pigs. We fell in love with their photo on the rescue site before we knew how charming they could be.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  3. wow, all your pizza combination look amazing. I am not sure about any other tropical fruit, but I would love a pear and gorgonzola.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marlene,
      I'm going to have to check the index to see if I've done gorgonzola with pear--I know I've done goat cheese and pear, and sausage and pear but I can't think of the cheese used. I bet gorgonzola and pear would go very well together. I'll have to try it!
      Thanks!

      Delete
  4. Mango on a pizza, great idea. Too bad you didn't have Machengo cheese too. I think the flavors sound fabulous together, and I love the picture of the pigs. They're pretty cute and useful all at the same time. P.S. The initial ingredient picture is beautiful: amazing colors and such symmetry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meghan,
      I do have Manchego still, so next time Crystal gets feisty and I pick up some mango you know I'm trying this. First Marlene suggests pear and gorgonzola, now you with mango and Manchego.
      Keep the ideas coming!

      Now that I'm taking a food photography class I'd change the angle of that ingredient photo, and put something behind it to blur the brick . . . point is, thank you, I liked how the colors and shapes work in that photo, too.

      Delete
  5. I know I've told you this before, but I love your pizza creations!!! The mango bit is a fabulous idea!!

    Your guinea pigs are SO cute! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kate,
      I'm glad to share my pizza creations with you--thanks!

      Delete
  6. We had guinea pigs as my children were growing up. I love the little guys, they're such loving creatures. I'm a pizza fanatic, but would never had thought to add mango to my pizza. It sounds fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had Bassets and hamsters growing up, and either I was too young to appreciate the hamster personalities, or guinea pigs are just that more charming, I don't know. I just know that these pigs are very much members of the family if I'm buying them special food *before* getting the idea for a blog post!
      We like our pizzas around here, so check back on Fridays, you'll see more!
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  7. i just want to love and hug and snuggle your guinea pigs!!! aahhhhh!! tooooo cuuuuute!!

    also, egg nog is never a good idea, friend. never. melch. (but you are!)...(good that is. not melch).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kristy,
      Egg nog and butternut squash crust (the dairy makes a pillowy, tender crust, not sweet) spread with fig jam and topped with caramelized onions and goat cheese? That, my friend, is a delicious idea. No, not idea, reality. I did another one, but I've not had enough tea this morning to know what it is without snuffling around my blog (it will be live in eggnog pizza crust season).
      Tragically, I think (hope?) that I've used the last of the eggnog crust so I cannot make you one now, but then again I'm not 100% sure what the non-blueberry crust in the freezer is, so you never know.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  8. Eeeeeek! Those little guinea pigs are adorable! And that pizza is just gorgeous with all the colors!

    Thanks for linking up to What's Cookin' Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karly,
      The pigs sure look cuter than pizza sometimes, though if you're coming here expecting food and see pigs . . . well, you may think the blog was hacked by Peruvian chefs or something.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  9. You're gonna laugh, but I'm scrolling down your homepage and saw four of our favorite dinners in a row - pizza, grilled cheese, tacos, and pizza. =) I just had to open up each one and leave a note to share!

    We usually don't do fruit on pizza, but we're getting more creative. Buffalo chicken pizza is our all-time fav (with homemade blue cheese instead of red sauce - YUM!). If we HAD to put fruit, it would probably be pineapple on a dinner pie, or apple on a dessert.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tiffany,
      Can you tell I'm sharing food that I feed my family? :) We like the same things over and over--good thing the CSA farm share gives me all sorts of goodies to play with to mix things up.
      Buffalo chicken pizza sounds right up the alley of all the non-plain-cheese pizza eaters around here, and yours sounds delicious I'll have to check it out.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  10. I have got to try this! Looks great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a tasty combination. Over the weekend I found a tiny amount of frozen sliced peaches, so I made a peach, pepper, and pepperoni pizza. Turned out well--I love fruit on savory pizzas.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  11. How beautiful! I LOVE mango and really do find an excuse to put it on everything. I am usually more of a hawaiian pizza girl but will be swapping out my pineapples for mangoes for now on.

    Thanks for sharing and linking up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heather,
      Variety is indeed the spice of life. Besides, there are mango trees in Hawaii--one by the parking lot of my daughter's preschool used to be dangerous when the mangoes were ripe!
      Thanks for hosting!

      Delete