3 Cheese 3 Mushroom Pizza - Quick Recipes

In my experience, people either love mushrooms or can’t stand them. I haven’t met many people who fall in between. Me, I was fed mushroom fritter treats on my great-granmother’s knee. I don’t think I’ve ever left a mushroom on my plate, unless I was really, really full. Now if you like mushrooms (and pizza) as much as I do, you’ll love learning about a simple trick I use to keep mushrooms on a pizza so wonderfully juicy.

I’m one of those types of people who’s just gotta have mushrooms on my pizza. But I can’t stand mushrooms that are half chewy and half dried out because a restaurant’s pizza oven was malfunctioning. When I make my own pizza at home - using a store-bought shell - I employ a very simple trick: saute the mushrooms in a pan with a bit of butter, oil, salt + pepper, and sometimes crushed red pepper first.

You don’t need to sautee them for more than a minute - just enough to lock in the moisture (use big pieces) and keep them juicy. They’ll still taste good if they’re sauteed longer, but they’ll be shrivelled up and have a different texture.

Here’s my standard pizza quick-recipe, using a store-bought shell:

1. Pre-heat oven at 350 F. In the meantime, get ingredients ready.
2. Pour a tablespoon of olive or canola oil over the pizza shell. Shell should be at least partially thawed. Use clean fingers, rub the oil all over the shell, to evenly distribute.
3. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of tomato or spaghetti sauce over the shell. Again, rub in with fingers or the back of a large spoon, to distribute.
4. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano or Italian seasoning (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano), garlic powder (optional), crushed red pepper flakes (optional).
5. Clean your mushrooms and slice them up big. I use any combination of button, cremini, portabello, oyster, shiitake (fresh or canned), morel, etc. Wild mushrooms in particular give off such a great flavour and aroma. Mixed with oregano or Italian seasoning, you’ll be in heaven.
6. On medium high, heat a non-stick skillet/ frying pan with 1 tsp canola oil and 1 tbsp butter. When pan is hot, add the mushrooms and saute for 1-2 minutes max. Then remove from heat and set aside. Let cool for 2 minutes, then pat dry of excess oils with kitchen paper (paper towel).
7. Grate cheese into a large bowl. I like to mix it up, using a combo of mozarella, old cheddar, monterey, jack, etc. You can also substitute slices of bocconcini mozarella, which give pizza and a wonderfully gooey texture.
8. Now, traditionally, all the toppings on a pizza go above the cheese. But I actually like to put sauteed mushrooms first. I do the same with a 1/2 cup of onion slivers. Your choice. Just make sure you spread everything around evenly.
9. Throw on sliced olives and tomatoes, and you’re ready to go.
10. The oven is probably heated by now. Most pizza pies using a store-bought shell take about 20-30 minutes max, since the dough is already cooked.

If you are a vegetarian like my mother is, you might consider using rennet-free cheeses. I haven’t tried tofu cheese on pizza, so I don’t know how it melts. However, if you know your vegetarian lore, you’ll know that most cheeses use rennet, which is a chemical from ruminant’s stomachs (cows, camels, goats). Because of the method of acquiring rennet, a true vegetarian would never eat cheese made with it. Of course, a vegan would eat cheese at all, since it is essentially an animal byproduct.

Tags: curryelvis, curry elvis, pizza, mushrooms, budget meals, cooking for one or two