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

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.

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.

I weighed the flour for the crust.  Love that--so easy! That's 2 cups!

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..

Yes, the right half is plain cheese.  Some people.