This easy to make flatbread pizza features ribbons of sweet potato and a tangle of caramelized onions overtop a bed of ricotta cheese, and gets finished with fresh herbs and feta. Enjoy as an appetizer or a main meal.
Some people (meat loving carnivores) get hung up on the illusion there must be a meat protein in a meal to make it “real”. I’m looking at you, husband.
This pizza just bunked that notion.
It also bunked the notion that a pizza has to be round. Or that it needs a sauce. No, no, no, it doesn’t. Your taste buds can’t tell what free-form shape delivery system of food starts as and with so many layers of flavor you’ll never miss a messy sauce.
Shortcuts like store-bought naan and caramelized onions that are made before hand take the work out of cooking this meal.
Welcome to Monday pizza night ala Meatless Monday that comes together in a hurry. And greetings to loving every minute of it.
This pizza pie was inspired by a cover of Food and Wine magazine with lovely shaved ribbons of sweet potatoes atop focaccia. Kathryn was inspired too, and came up with a gorgeous pizza version herself.
Food bloggers. We pick up, and quickly emulate these food styling things.
This pizza isn’t meant just as a lunch or a simple weeknight dinner. Even though it is. What’s special about this one is it tastes just as stellar at room temp as it does straight from the oven, making it a good solution to be made for a crowd. To please the masses to rave reviews of your cooking prowess.
Think about serving it as a fun small plate to share over a glass of wine or as an appetizer before the main meal and watch your guests turn into ravished beasts.
A mere bonus for being in the entertaining game.
About the Recipe
This recipe is great for a quick meal or is also an entertainer’s dream. The pizzas can be cut up into appetizer sizes and set out to nosh on at will since they’re just as tasty at room temperature. I use store bought flatbread for the base, which makes it even easier to create.
Make the caramelized onion ahead and store in the fridge or allow at least 1 hour of cooking time for the onion before assembling the pizzas. You want them to be rich and caramelized and that equals time. The trick to caramelizing the onion is to do it low and slow for a rich, earthy taste spiked with flavors of thyme. Use the leftover onions (if you have any!) for sandwiches or on chicken or burgers.
Instead of slicing the sweet potatoes in the traditional way, I used my vegetable peeler to make ribbons and twirls of the sweet potato, then loaded them onto the caramelized onion.
Herbs mixed into the ricotta cheese take the place of a sauce and feta adds just the right accent.
Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Pizza
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet onions peeled and cut in half then thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Kosher salt
- 2 store bought flat breads
- 1 15- ounce container whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves about 2 tablespoons
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small sweet potato peeled
- 3 ounces feta cheese
- Flake sea salt
Instructions
- Melt butter over medium heat and add onions to large skillet or pan. Stir gently to coat with butter, sprinkle with pinch or two of kosher salt. Stir onions every 5-10 minutes. Onions will begin to darken and caramelize the longer they’ve cooked, up to 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- To make each pizza: Mix ricotta cheese with olive oil and 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves. Spread half of the ricotta cheese on one piece of flat bread. Top with half of caramelized onion. Using vegetable peeler, peel long ribbons of sweet potato from root to tip. Sweet potatoes will shrink as they bake so peel a few more than you think you’ll need.
- Layer sweet potatoes in ribbons then sprinkle with half of feta cheese. Top with leaves of fresh thyme and bake for 5-10 minutes or until potatoes have lightly browned. Remove from oven, drizzle with more olive oil and season with flake sea salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.
