The first thing everyone says when I tell them I made cantaloupe pizza the other day is, “Oh, so that’s a dessert pizza right?” Nope. Not at all. I tried to convince myself that maybe it was, after so many people asked… but it’s not. It’s sweet but it’s savory and it’s dinner and it’s *wonderful*. The first time I made it when I came up with the recipe last summer I loved it so much that I had to immediately make it again the next week because I just hadn’t gotten my fill the first time around. This time I was gifted a free cantaloupe at my local farmer’s market. Normal people might think nice, now they would have cantaloupe to snack on, or for a healthy dessert … I immediately thought, “Guess it’s cantaloupe pizza time!” Stopped to pick up some leeks, picked some sage off my window box garden, and dinner was born.
Like my Tomatillo-fingerling pizza with thyme, this goes beautifully with a glass of refreshing white wine. The perfect relaxing summer meal, it created just the right peaceful atmosphere for Shabbat dinner. I hope it finds you enjoying it at a wonderfully perfect relaxing moment as well. :)
Cantaloupe Leek Pizza
Pizza dough: I use this recipe
4 leeks, chopped
2/3 cantaloupe, cut in small pieces
3 T chopped fresh sage
1 C Follow Your Heart mozzarella cheese, shredded (You can of course use any vegan cheeze you like, but in this case I really like FYH because it’s a little less cheezy, and just melds in with the other ingredients.)
1. Make pizza dough according to the recipe above
2. Preheat oven to 500.
3. Saute leeks in olive oil with a little salt and pepper until soft and caramelized.
4. Spread leeks over flattened pizza dough.
5. Saute cantaloupe in same pan, allow juice to reduce somewhat. Stir in fresh sage and fresh black pepper. Remove from pan and spread over the pizza dough.
(You may want to spoon the cantaloupe and sage out of your pan and leave the juice behind. This isn’t always necessary, but this last time that I made it there was more juice than I wanted on my pizza. I saved the extra flavorful juice and will make something else interesting with it!)
6. Sprinkle “cheese” over top of pizza.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and crust is golden.
Enjoy!!
