In my previous post about creamy mushroom crêpes, I spoke about how excited I was to find this exotic mushroom mix at my local supermarket. Ever since then I’ve been brimming with new recipe ideas to put these fabulous mushrooms to good use. The recipe I have here was inspired by a recent episode of Masterchef Canada. It was a pizza challenge and featured one competitor’s “fun-guy” pizza consisting of a portobello duxelles base, mixed Asian mushroom topping, and white balsamic-dressed arugula. Easy, I thought. And it is.

Duxelles is simply a mix of mushrooms and shallots which have been sautéed in butter until reduced to a thick paste. Now, you could stop here, or you could add vermouth, sherry, or port at the end of cooking for an extra layer of flavour. I happened to have a bottle of vermouth in the cupboard, so I chucked that in. As I can’t get portobello mushrooms in my local supermarket, I used regular white button mushrooms and the result was still excellent. Finally, since I didn’t have white balsamic vinegar either, I did a regular balsamic reduction and drizzled it over the top of the pizza at the end.

Mushroom Duxelles Pizza with Arugula and Balsamic Reduction

Name: Mushroom Duxelles Pizza with Arugula and Balsamic Reduction
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons of butter, divided; 250 grams of mushroom caps; 2 shallots, finely chopped; Salt and pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons vermouth, sherry or port; One 260 gram thin crust pizza base (I used store-bought, but you can make your own); 250 grams fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced; 200 grams fresh mixed Asian mushrooms, slice the larger mushrooms; A handful of arugula; balsamic reduction

Yield: Serves 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

For the mushroom duxelles

2 tablespoons of butter, divided
250 grams of mushroom caps
2 shallots, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons vermouth, sherry or port

For the pizza

One 260 gram thin crust pizza base (I used store-bought, but you can make your own)
250 grams fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
200 grams fresh mixed Asian mushrooms, slice the larger mushrooms
A handful of arugula
balsamic reduction

Instructions

For the mushroom duxelles

Finely chop the mushrooms by hand or in a food processor.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pan over medium heat. Cook the shallots until soft and translucent, then reduce heat to low and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the juice from the mushrooms has evaporated and the mushrooms have formed a thick paste. About 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, then add the alcohol and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Stir through the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

For the pizza

First, prepare the balsamic reduction by bringing half a cup of balsamic vinegar to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer until the vinegar has reduced and thickened. It’s ready when it can coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and allow to cool. It will continue to thicken as it cools.
Roll out the pizza dough and place on a pan. Cover the base with the mushroom duxelles. Next, spread the slices of mozzarella over the duxelles. Finally, sprinkle the fresh mushrooms on top and bake in the oven according to the pizza crust package directions.
When the pizza is ready, remove from oven and sprinkle a handful of arugula over the top. Finally, drizzle the balsamic reduction over the pizza with a spoon and serve immediately.

Comments

Maria says

February 15, 2016 at 6:40 am

A note from my mom: it's cheaper to order the log thguorh Amazon and it comes from the same place. Good tip.It comes already pregnant (hee hee!) with mushrooms. You can see lots of places where they will grow from. You "shock" it by putting it in cold water for 24 hours, and then mushrooms will start to grow in the next few days. After harvesting them, you have to let it sit for about 6 weeks, soaking it a couple times in regular water, and then you can shock it again and make it produce more mushrooms. Supposedly it will produce mushrooms for years to come! We shall see!

Ingredients

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