White Pizza with Zucchini, Summer Squash, and Manchego

The last couple of weeks has seen the return of summer squash and zucchini to the farmer's market. I always get excited when something new comes into season, so I brought home several bright yellow summer squash and some light green, dappled Ishtar zucchini as well.

Come Friday night they were still sitting in the vegetable crisper. Now, Friday night is pizza night for Nate and me, a tradition carried on from his family — and suddenly I had an idea. White pizza with summer squash and zucchini, sprinkled with thyme and layered with Monterrey Jack, Parmesan, and Manchego cheese. Many white pizzas use ricotta in the place of tomato sauce; I used a drizzle of olive oil to keep things lighter, though ricotta could certainly be used if you're not trying to watch your girlish figure. The results were delicious and much more satisfying than a frozen pizza.

White Pizza with Zucchini, Summer Squash, and Manchego

Thyme, Manchego Cheese, and Garlic

You can use any combination of cheese that you like for the pizza. I used Manchego, a sharp and salty Spanish sheep's milk cheese. 

Shave the cheese into hearty curls.

The other two cheeses I used were Parmesan, which I had on hand, and Monterrey Jack. I used to only use mozzarella cheese on pizza, but Monterrey Jack is supremely melty and creamy and works just as well. 

Parmesan

Monterrey Jack

Wash the zucchini and summer squash well. I peeled them almost entirely, but left some of the skin on for color.

Peel the vegetables into thin ribbons, using a vegetable peeler or mandolin. 

Roll out the dough. I made mine from scratch, but used my bread machine for the mixing and kneading. It's so easy and so cheap to make the dough at home this way (the best part is that I found my bread machine in the alley behind my apartment!). You can get good pre-made pizza dough at the supermarket if you don't have time to make it at home. For this recipe, I only used half of the dough and rolled it out very thin.

Brush 1 TBSP olive oil over the crust, then sprinkle with 4 minced cloves of garlic, about 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh thyme, salt and pepper.

Now, spread the Parmesan and Monterrey Jack cheese over the crust...

add the zucchini and summer squash...

and top the pizza with the Manchego curls.

Pop into a 500 degree oven for about 7 minutes, being careful not to burn the crust.

The result is a pizza that is fresh and savory with a crispy yet chewy crust.

YUM!