Kabocha is a type of pumpkin. I like it for its mild sweetness, fluffy and slightly powdery quality. I especially like to cube it and roast it until it's chewy and caramelized on the outside and tender on the inside. Lately I have been roasting up a whole squash on weekends and then popping the crispy little cubes into salads, over rice and onto pizzas all week. It pairs really well with sharp greens like arugula and a bit of salty, tangy cheese.

I'm not sure if the saucelessness of this pizza means it's maybe actually focaccia masquerading as pizza? It has no traditional sauce base, just some spicy, garlicky oil and a whole lot of arugula, which cooks down into a tasty goo underneath the cheese and squash. Anyway, maybe it's not a true pizza, but I feel weird saying I'm having focaccia for dinner, like eating an entire loaf of garlic bread for dinner or something. Which I would never do. But this is more substantial than a typical focaccia and has a deceptively large load of vegetables that make it a totally appropriate thing to eat for dinner. So it's a pizza I guess.

kabocha, goat cheese and arugula pizza:

1 batch pizza dough (below)
1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled
1 cup mozzarella, sliced or shredded
1/2 a medium kabocha squash, peeled (if you want), cubed and roasted until golden brown
a few big handfuls arugula, use more than you think you should
6 cloves garlic, minced
big pinch chili flakes
2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs pine nuts, toasted

Preheat oven to the hottest setting, 500° or higher.

In a small bowl combine oil, garlic and chilli flakes. Set aside.

Stretch pizza to fit in a cookie sheet or onto a pizza stone if you have it. Brush with the garlic oil and top with the arugula in a big mound. It'll cook down a lot so use plenty. Sprinkle kabocha , cheeses and pine nuts on top and sprinkle a little salt and pepper over it all.

Cook pizza in hot oven until the cheese is blistered and brown, and bottom of crust is dark brown.

pizza dough

adapted from smitten kitchen

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Put flour, salt and yeast in a bowl and add water and oil. Stir until everything mostly comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a couple minutes. Lightly oil a bowl and place dough in the bowl, turning to coat dough with oil on all sides. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

I have never understood the advice I see in cookbooks and all over the food-internet about how to reduce the bitterness of eggplants. I have never found eggplant to be bitter. It seems like it has a sweet and fairly bland flavour best served by grilling or roasting to caramelize it and give a flavour boost. If any quality of eggplant were to be widely lamented, I would have thought that it would be eggplant's tendency to go a bit spongy and stodgy if cooked badly or in too-large pieces. But anti-bitterness advice abounds.

Am I just winning the eggplant lottery? Choosing sweet and mild eggplants every time while others wind up with sad, acrid specimens that they are forced to attempt to debitter?

Maybe I missing some vital eggplant-detecting tastebuds or genes?

The most troubling possibility though, is the thought that maybe eggplant isn't actually bitter at all. Perhaps all this talk of bitterness is a lie, an international conspiracy by a shadowy anti-eggplant lobby. Moving in the darkness, these eggplant slanderers work to discourage eggplant use and to generally smear its good name. They are probably also behind the popular and, quite frankly, vulgar use of the eggplant emoji. Another bald-faced attempt to sour public opinion of the eggplant.

Obviously eggplant's continued popularity is the only thing between us and the new world order, or full reptilian takeover or some similarly apocalyptic fate. Help fight the eggplant-illuminati by making this tasty eggplant pizza. It's olivey and garlicky and feta-briney and a little bit spicy. But it's not bitter.

Eggplant note: I did nothing in this recipe to combat bitterness because, as noted, eggplant is not bitter. However, if you find eggplant bitter, do whatever you normally do to prevent that. Just like the man wants you to.

pizza dough

adapted from smitten kitchen

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Deflate the dough gently and gather into a ball. Set aside while you prepare the toppings.

eggplant, feta and olive pizza:

olive oil, a couple big glugs
a big handful cherry tomatoes, sliced very thinly
4 cloves garlic
chile flakes
one medium eggplant
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup crumbled feta

Grate four cloves of garlic with a rasp. Combine with 3 tbs olive oil and a large pinch of chile flakes. Set aside.

Brush eggplant slices with olive oil. Grill slices on a grill pan or barbecue over medium heat until they have deep brown grill marks, about two minutes. Flip and repeat until all slices are well grilled on both sides.

Stretch dough large enough to fit to the edges of a cookie sheet. Sprinkle the cookie sheet with rough cornmeal and place the dough on top. Brush the dough with the chili garlic oil, making sure to coat the edges well. Lay tomato slices over the dough.

Sprinkle 2/3 of the mozzarella over the dough. Lay eggplant slices over the cheese in an even layer. Sprinkle olives, feta and a bit more mozzarella on top. Crack black pepper over top. Bake the pizza as hot as your oven will go until the cheese is blistered and the exposed crust round the edges is golden.

Photos: Tyrel Hiebert