four mushroom pizza

i always see these delicious pizza ai funghi on the menus at italian restaurants i visit, which is really just a fancy way of saying mega-mushroom pizza. they always look so delicious, but i usually can't have them because their sauces are cream based, or i'm not sure about the crust ingredients, or something other vegan related. i finally decided to combat this unfortunate situation with my own italian culinary skills.

• 1 batch pizza crust
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• pinch of salt

for the sauce:

• 1/3 cup blanched almonds
• 1/4 cup nutri yeast
• 1½ tablespoons bragg's aminos
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/8 cup spelt flower
• 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 3/4 tablespoon light miso
• pinch black pepper and salt

jessy and dan have a fabulous pizza crust recipe... so whenever i have time, it is definitely the recipe i use. after whatever crust you are using is ready, you will want to pre-bake it for about 5 minutes at 375°f. pull out and let cool for a few minutes. you can prep your sauce during this time - just put all the sauce ingredients in a food processor or magic bullet and blend until creamy.  you can also prep the topping sprinkle - use the walnuts, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds and dash of salt. you can hand chop, but i just throw everything in the bullet and give it a few pulses.

once your crust has cooled, layer on creamy sauce and then the mushrooms.  in this recipe i used equal parts shiitake, black, straw and button because that's what i had. the shiitakes gave a bit of oriental flair, but use your favourite mushrooms.  i'm thinking one with portabellos, button and creminis would be nice. before you put your sprinkle on top, you'll want to bake about 8-10 minutes on 375°f to make sure the mushrooms are cooked well.  pull out and sprinkle on the topping, and bake for about 5-7 minutes more. pizza is one of those foods that tend to vary on cooking times (depending on the the amount of toppings and crust), so you'll just have to keep an eye on it and make sure the center is heated through. 

double decker B-L-FGT

i've always loved the BLT, but with the cooler weather all summer, my garden tomatoes didn't ripen like i'd hoped. when life gives you lemons, make lemon drop martinis! i used the fried green tomato recipe from vegan yum yum, the shiitake bacon that bianca blogged about, and made a big fat double-decker bacon, lettuce, and fried green tomato (B-L-FGT) masterpiece.

• 1 medium green tomato
• 6-8 shiitake bacon strips
• 3 large leaves of lettuce
• coarse ground mustard
• nasoya mayonaise
• 3 slices whole wheat bread

first make your shiitake bacon. in addition to this great recipe, i like to grind up vegan bacon bits into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle. i add about a teaspoon of that to the wet soaking mixture for the mushrooms, it lends just a smidgen more of a bacon flavor.

while the mushrooms are cooling, go ahead and start making your fried green tomatoes. you'll want four tomato slices, which is about one green tomato. once they are fried and draining, pop your whole wheat bread in the toaster. for a double decker, a thick multi-grain is necessary to handle the size of this sandwich. on two of the toast pieces, coat one side with nasoya nayonaise and coarse ground brown mustard.

next, assemble your sandwich: lay one toast slice with mayo/mustard up, half the bacon, two fried green tomatoes, and half the lettuce. place a second slice of toast with mayo/mustard up, remaining bacon slices, two fried green tomatoes and remaining lettuce. top with your final slice of toast.

word.