Sweet Potato and Fontina Pizza with Shishito or Padron Peppers

This pizza combines two great tastes of fall - sweet potatoes and Shishito peppers (or similar Padron peppers). If you haven't tried these incredibly tasty little frying peppers yet this summer, now's the time to get some before they're gone. Both Shishitos and Padrons have an intense flavor and are generally not hot, but every once in a while you get a humdinger! They're generally fried whole in olive oil and sprinkled with a little sea salt as an appetizer. I saw the first sweet potatoes of the fall this month at the growers' market - I bought an absolutely enormous orange one about 5 inches in diameter, and a few slender magenta colored ones. Fontina makes this pizza really special - it's a soft cheese that melts like Mozzarella, but with a funkier flavor. There are many types, from milder Danish varieties to sharper aged French or Italian varieties, so if you can, taste a few to see what you like. For the crust, try a dough ball from Il Vicino or Whole Foods (they even have whole grain.)

1 premade pizza crust
1 medium sweet potato
Big handful of Shishito or Padron peppers
1 T. olive oil
1/4 t. salt
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 oz. Fontina

Preheat oven to 450. Stretch or roll out the pizza dough to fit a 12-inch pan (I like thin crust, so I just use half of one dough ball from Whole Foods.) Slice the sweet potatoes about 1/4 inch thick, then steam or microwave them for a few minutes until they are just barely tender. Slice peppers lengthwise, removing the stems. Toss with olive oil, salt, garlic and sweet potatoes. Distribute vegetables evenly over the crust and dot with slices of fontina. Bake until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is browned at edges, about 20 minutes. Serves 2.