Mushroom Pizza

I often see photos of pizza with salad on top and I had been wanting to try something similar. So, keeping with what is in season, my pizza is made with onions, mushrooms and arugula salad. Serve this pizza with marinated olives and sliced tomatoes. And, don’t forget dessert!

4 servings

Ingredients

1 lb pizza dough, at room temperature
Half a large red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 oz mozzarella, sliced thin
½ cup feta cheese
1 cup arugula
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

Heat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Spread the pizza dough in a greased pizza pan.

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the shallots and garlic. Cook for a minute and add the mushrooms.

Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook until all the mushroom liquid is absorbed.

Spread the sliced mozzarella on top of the pizza dough. Spread the mushrooms over the cheese.

Sprinkle the feta on top of the mushrooms.

Bake the pizza until crispy and brown on the edges.

Mix the arugula with the lemon juice.

As soon as the pizza comes out of the oven, top it with the arugula salad and freshly ground black pepper.

Cut and serve.

Italian Almond Carrot Cake (Torta di Carote)

This cake is gluten-free and made with olive oil. It is not your traditional American carrot cake.

You can also buy the carrots shredded from the supermarket.

Ingredients

Carrot cake

1/2 cup regular olive oil, not extra-virgin
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups almond meal/flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 lemon, zest finely grated and juiced

Mascarpone cream

1 cup mascarpone
2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons rum

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the base of a 9 inch springform pan with a parchment paper cut to fit the bottom. Coat with olive oil spray.

Add the pine nuts to a small dry pan and toast them over low heat.

Grate the carrots in a food processor or with a coarse grater, and put them on a double layer of paper towels. Wrap the towels around the carrots to soak up the excess liquid.

Using the whisk attachment in an electric mixer, combine the sugar and olive oil until creamy.

Whisk in the vanilla and eggs. Fold in the almond meal/flour, nutmeg, grated carrots, toasted pine nuts the lemon zest and lemon juice.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. The batter will be not be very high in the pan.

Bake the cake until the top is risen and golden and a cake tester comes almost clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it rest on a rack for 10 minutes before removing the sides. Let cool until ready to serve. Transfer the cake to a serving platter.

Combine the mascarpone, confectioners’ sugar and rum in a small bowl. Slice the cake and serve with the mascarpone cream.

 


Posted by in arugula, cake, carrots, Cheese, Desserts, Gluten Free, Healthy Italian Cooking, Italian Cuisine, mushrooms, Nuts, Olive Oil, onion Tags: ,