Wild Mushrooms And Fontina Pizza Recipes

WILD MUSHROOMS AND FONTINA PIZZA

Steps:

• Thirty to sixty minutes before ready to bake the pizzas, place a baking stone on a rack in the lowest level of the oven; turn on oven to maximum temperature, 500°.
• Wipe mushrooms clean with damp paper towel; discard stems of shiitake mushrooms; cut mushrooms into thin slices.
• In a big pan, heat the oil with the garlic over medium heat; add in the mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper to taste; cook, stirring often.
• When the mushrooms liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are browned, add the parsley; let cool.
• Place pizza dough on a floured surface; Using your fingers, stretch and flatten dough out into a 12-inch circle.
• Dust a pizza peel with flour; place dough on the peel, shaking it once or twice to make sure it does not stick-if it does, lift the dough and dust the peel with more flour.
• Spread the cheese slices over the dough leaving a ½ inch border all around; top with the mushrooms.
• Slide pizza onto prepared baking stone; bake pizza 6-7 minutes or until the edges are puffed and the crust is crisp and golden brown.
• Remove pizza to a cutting board; cut into wedges and serve immediately.

EXOTIC MUSHROOM PIZZA

Steps:

• Put pizza stone in oven and heat to 425 degrees. While stone is heating, brush olive oil evenly over shell and bake 5 to 7 minutes or until oil bubbles. (If using thin crust pizza, you can eliminate pre-baking of the pizza crust.)
• While shell bakes begin cooking the mushrooms. Heat saute or fry pan on high heat, add the oil, garlic and shallots and quickly saute for approximately 30 seconds. Do not allow the garlic/shallot mixture to burn.
• Add mushrooms to hot pan, saute quickly until most of the mushroom juices have evaporated (3 to 5 minutes), then add wine. Continue to saute until wine completely evaporates and mushrooms have turned a darker shade or brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove mushroom mixture from heat.
• Remove shell from oven (leave stone in oven to keep it hot) and allow to cool slightly. Spread the gorgonzola cheese evenly over the warm crust so that it melts slightly. You can dip your fingers in olive oil to spread the gorgonzola. Spread the mushroom mixture evenly over the crust. Add the Fontina cheese, distributing it as evenly as possible. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Place on hot stone in oven and bake 12 to 15 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and bubbly. Cool and cut into small rectangles for hors d'oeuvres or into pie-shaped pieces for first course or main course portions. Serve warm or at room temperature.
• This recipe can be adjusted to suit personal taste such as adding dried, red hot pepper or use different cheeses; however you should not eliminate the gorgonzola. It can be served with champagne as an hors d'oeuvre and with dry red wine as an appetizer or main course with a tossed salad.

MIXED MUSHROOM AND FONTINA PIZZA

Steps:

• To make the dough, place 1/4 cup of the warm water in a small bowl. Stir in the sugar until dissolved, then sprinkle the yeast onto the surface of the water. Let the yeast sit undisturbed for 1 minute, then stir it into the water until blended. Let the yeast "proof" for 10 minutes; it should become bubbly because of the presence of sugar. If it doesn=t bubble, it is outdated and inactive.
• Pour the yeast mixture into a large bowl. Mix in the remaining cup of water, the olive oil, and salt. Add the flour and semolina and stir with a wooden spoon until a ball of dough forms. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 10 minutes, flouring the work surface as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking.
• Lightly oil a large ceramic or glass bowl. Place the dough inside, then flip it over so the oiled side is on top. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, about 11 1/2 hours.
• Meanwhile make the topping. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are golden brown all over, about 20 minutes. Mix in the mushrooms and cook until they are brown and juicy, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and season the mushrooms with the thyme, salt, and pepper.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you are using a pizza stone heat it at least 45 minutes before cooking the pizza on it.
• Punch down the dough and dump it onto your work surface. Divide it into 3. Lightly flour the work surface, then with a rolling pin, roll one portion of the dough into an 11inch circle. If you are using a pizza stone, then sprinkle some cornmeal onto a pizza peel and place the disk of dough on it; otherwise, lightly grease a baking sheet and place the dough on that.
• Spread 1/3 of the sour cream all over the dough. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the fontina cheese, then scatter 1/3 of the mushroom mixture all over the pizza. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown underneath. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

VEGETARIAN PIZZA WITH WILD MUSHROOMS AND PESTO

Steps:

• Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of an oven, and preheat to 500 degrees.
• Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and eggplant. Sauté until onions soften slightly, about 1 minute. Add peppers, zucchini, and artichoke hearts. Cook, stirring, until vegetables soften, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms; season generously with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, and transfer to a plate to cool.
• Lightly dust work surface with flour. Working with one ball of dough at a time, dip the ball into flour, and shake off the excess. Start to stretch and pull the dough out with your fingertips. Press down on the center, spreading the dough into an 8-inch circle with the outer border a little thicker than the inner circle, forming a crust. You may want to use a rolling pin. Be careful not to tear the dough. Transfer to a pizza peel, sprinkled lightly with semolina.
• Spread the pesto sauce evenly over the surface of the dough. Generously sprinkle with mozzarella and fontina. Scatter the sautéed vegetables over the cheese, and top with the tomato slices. Finish topping the pizza with the goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes.
• Using a lightly floured pizza peel, carefully slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone. Bake until the pizza crust is browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a flat surface. Sprinkle with basil leaves. Using a pizza wheel or a large sharp knife, slice and serve.

WILD MUSHROOM SKILLET PIZZA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees with rack in lowest position. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots; cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook until mushrooms are golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add wine, bring to a boil, and cook until absorbed, about 1 minute. Add cream and stir to combine. Transfer to a plate, and let cool.
• Working with one piece of dough at a time, gently stretch into a 9-inch circle and place in an 8-inch cast-iron skillet. Brush dough all over with olive oil, and sprinkle with 1-ounce cheese, and one-quarter of the mushrooms. Top with another ounce of cheese. Drizzle with oil, and season with salt and pepper.
• Place skillet in the oven and bake until crust is golden brown, 15 to 16 minutes. Sprinkle with tarragon and cut into wedges. Serve immediately. Repeat process with remaining ingredients.

WILD MUSHROOM PIZZA

Steps:

• Char bell peppers over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag; let stand 10 minutes. Peel, seed and thinly slice peppers.
• Preheat oven to 450°F. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and rosemary. Cover skillet and cook until mushrooms are just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Uncover and simmer until any juices evaporate. Season with salt and pepper.
• Place crust on baking sheet. Top with cheese, onion, peppers and mushrooms. Bake pizza until heated through and cheese melts, about 15 minutes.

WILD MUSHROOM PIZZA - CARAMELIZED ONIONS, FONTINA, ROSEMARY

Steps:

• *** MAKE DOUGH*** Mix the yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil with the water in a 5-quart bowl or a lidded (not air-tight) food container.
• Mix in the flour without kneading using a spoon, a large capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour. I use a spoon to combine, then my hands for the last bit of flour.
• Cover (not air-tight) and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
• The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (again, not air-tight) container and use over the next 12 days.
• *** MAKE PIZZA *** Melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoons vegetable oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until golden, about 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter with 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in another heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, garlic, and shallot. Sauté 4 minutes. Add wine and simmer until almost all liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently, about 13 minutes. Add rosemary; season with salt and pepper.
• Position rack in bottom third of oven. Place a pizza stone on rack. Preheat oven to 500°F at least 30 minutes before baking.
• Instead of kneading this dough, you're going to "cloak" it, which (and this is VERY important), should take no more than 30 seconds for the whole process from grabbing off a hunk of dough to the end of cloaking. This is done after the 2-hour rest. Sprinkle a little flour on the surface of the dough you've made and pull or cut off a grapefruit-sized ball. This will be for one pizza. Sprinkle a bit more flour on the top of that ball and with the entire length of the sides of your thumbs, gently stretch the top surface around to the under part of the ball. Gently! You're not actually tearing the dough, but think of it as lengthening the fibers on the very top surface of the ball by stretching it just a bit.
• Roll out 2 dough disks on lightly floured surface to 10-inch rounds, allowing dough to rest a few minutes if it springs back. Sprinkle 2 pizza peels with cornmeal and transfer 1 dough round to each peel. Lightly brush dough with garlic oil. Sprinkle one with 1/2 cup cheese, and then scatter 2 1/2 tablespoons onions over cheese. Scatter 1/2 cup mushrooms over onions. Sprinkle with salt and repeat for second pizza.
• Position tip of pizza peel at a slightly downward angle to roughly 2/3 of the way across pizza stone. With quick forward jerks and less jerky backward motions, jiggle the pizza from the peel to the stone, then slide peel the remainder of the way out so that the pizza is centered on the stone. Repeat with second pizza and bake for 6 minutes. Rotate pizzas half a turn. Bake until crust is deep brown, about 6 minutes longer, but watch that the crust doesn't burn.
• Using a large spatula or two, carefully transfer pizzas to cutting board. Let rest 1 minute. Slice into wedges and serve.