Caramelized Onion and Squash Pizza

Did that title throw you off?  Yeah, I know it sounds weird.  But it's not!  This pizza is awesome.  Lots of different flavors thrown together, you don't even miss the cheese.  Promise.

A delicious pizza sauce made from tomato paste and ground almonds.  Again, sounds weird, but trust me here.  Topped with  caramelized onions (read: candy) and zucchini squash, the pizza makes for a healthy vegan meal.  

Try it!  I promise you won't be disappointed! 

Caramelized Onion & Squash Pizza

adapted from PostPunkKitchen

1 Store-bough Pizza Dough (Trader Joes' dough is vegan) or make your OWN.

olive oil for brushing

1 yellow onion, sliced thinly

pinch of salt

1 tbsp olive oil

3/4 cup slivered almonds

2 red roasted bell peppers

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

pepper

1/4 tsp marjoram

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp agave nectar (or honey)

1/2 of a large squash (I used zucchini, yellow works too), thinly sliced.

For the caramelized onions:  Heat a heavy bottomed saucepan over low heat.  Add the oil and onions, tossing to coat.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes, but leave the lid slightly open for steam to escape.  Stir occasionally, about every 5 minutes.  Onions should start to turn a golden, amber color.

Remove the lid and turn the heat up to medium.  Cook for 10 minutes more.  Onions will turn a darker amber color, almost brown.  There may be a few black spots on them.  That's ok.  Set the onions aside.  

If your almonds aren't already toasted, do this now.  Place them in a sauce pan over medium-low heat.  Toast them 5-7 minutes, until they are lightly golden and fragrant.  Once toasted, put them into a food processor.  

For the sauce: In the same pan the almonds were toasted in, sauté the onion in olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add a pinch of salt, and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onion is tender.  Add the garlic, a few dashes of pepper, marjoram and salt.  Saute together for just a minute more, then remove from heat.  

Pulse the almonds in the FP until they turn into a finely-ground powder (Don't over do it-you'll end up with almond butter!).  Add in the roasted red peppers, the onion mixture, the vinegar and agave/honey.  puree until combined and smooth.  Add more salt if needed.  

Assemble the pizza:  Roll out the pizza dough and place on a lightly greased baking sheet or pizza pan.  Spread as much sauce as you'd like over the dough.  Place squash slices over on pizza.  Drizzle with olive oil, and brush the crust.  Bake pizza at 500 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the crust is firm and golden.  Top with caramelized onions (and some more black pepper if you please) once pizza is baked.