Even though I love dessert, I’m not too big a fan about sweet things in food I eat outside of dessert. For example, I rarely mix sweet flavors and meat, but this flatbread recipe for a spicy, Hawaiian style pizza really works. I didn’t really enjoy this pizza until a chef I used to work with puréed the fresh pineapple into the tomato sauce, in what I discovered to be a stroke of brilliance. Gone were the mushy, hot chunks of pineapple, and in its place, a spicy zesty tomato sauce with a subtle sweet fruitiness. Perfection!

Pineapples can be found in abundance in the wintertime, so I make this flatbread recipe using whatever bits of pineapple won’t fit in my big container once I cut up the largest pineapple I can find. And because I hate to waste even a little pineapple, I make a fermented beverage called tepache with the core and the skin of the fruit. Super easy and made with piloncillo sugar, some cloves, a stick of cinnamon, and fennel or anise seeds, tepache is delicious and has lots of healthy probiotics. And the best part is, it tastes like liquid pineapple!

It’s so cold here, and overtime a storm is forecast in the weather report, I run to the store and grab the ingredients to make this, along with the usual eggs, milk, and bread. I can’t help it! The next time you’re at the store, grab some Flatout flatbreads and a couple big pineapples and try this pizza. It will propel you right out of those winter blues, no matter the weather, and transport you to a tropical destination, I promise.

-Amy at Flatout