I'm a Humungous Fungus, I am a real Fun guy!

That joke is so terrible but it cracks me up each time so it had to be included.

But all bad humor aside, here is our variation of a mushroom pizza I have ordered from a local pizza place and fell in love with.

I had a huge amount of  mushrooms in the fridge left over from another recipe I had made, so we were trying to think of what we could make that would use a lot of mushrooms. We decided on mushroom pizza, and boy was it good.
I didn't really measure everything for this one because lets face it pizza is one of those things that you just throw on toppings till it looks like enough and then stop, but I will give you rough amounts that I used
I cheated a little and used some frozen pizza dough shhh don't tell.

Ingredients 
(makes 2 pizza's)

• Pizza dough, store bought or home made (enough for 2 pizza's)
• 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup pesto (click here for recipe)
• 1 portabello mushroom
• 5 large white mushrooms
• 2 large shiitake  mushrooms
• 1 1/2 cup chopped oyster mushrooms
• 1 little bunch of enoki mushrooms 
• olive oil
• 1 large clove fresh garlic minced
• 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
• 2 tbs parmesan  

Pre-heat oven to 425F (if you are using a pizza stone make sure you have it in the oven during the preheat so it does not crack)


Roll out your pizza dough and sprinkle cornmeal on your pizza stone or pan before you put your dough on.
Slice all of your mushrooms.
In a large frying pan with a little olive oil add your sliced portabello and white mushrooms and cook on medium heat for about 5-7 min until they started to brown and let off some moisture. Turn off the heat and add the minced garlic.
Spread a thin layer of pesto on the pizza dough and drizzle a very small amount of olive oil.
Add as much or as little of each mushroom as you would like, don't forget the ones you had started to cook.

 
At this point I chose to put the pizza in the oven for 5-7 minutes or just long enough to help some of the moisture of the mushrooms to evaporate so you do not have watery/soggy pizza you do not want it to cook through at this point.
After the 7 minutes take the pizza out and sprinkle on the mozzarella and parm. Place the pizza back in the oven and cook for 8-10 min until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbling.

Let it sit for a few minutes and then cut and serve.

Cheese and Wine

This post is not a recipe but more a description of what we had for dinner tonight.

Cheese, wine, bread, and fruit

Dan and I decided to spend the morning down town and walk through the market and soak up some sun. It was wonderful! We browsed the market, had a beer on a patio and of course checked out some of the shops down town. One of the stores we went into was a cheese shop (one of our favorites). While we were browsing we found some brie with a truffle center.
My first experience eating anything with truffles was when Dan and I went to Las Vegas in the spring and I had some truffled potato's, and let me tell you, those were the absolute best potato's I have ever had in my life. Since then I have been on the look out for a store that sells truffles with no luck.
Anyways, so we found this cheese and decided we had to try it. Now what goes better with cheese then wine? Not a whole lot, though a fresh baguette is a close runner up.
AND VOILA dinner was planned. There seemed to be no better way to end our day then wine, cheese, and bread.

(mmm truffle brie) 

Making a cheese plate is such a good way to try new kinds of cheese, or just enjoy favorites. Pick out one or a few different kinds of cheese, grab some fresh bread, add some dried fruit and/or fresh fruit, some nuts and your favorite bottle of wine and you are set.

Tonight we used, the brie with truffle we found, some sliced up apple, dried cherry's, almonds, and a baguette. We added a bottle of red wine on the side that my aunt left us when she came to visit this week.

I sliced the baguette and rubbed each piece with fresh garlic, drizzled it with olive oil and a very small amount of freshly ground pepper. I placed them in the over on 350 F for about 5min then broiled until the bread was just crispy on the outside but still a little bit soft inside. 

Throw it all on a platter and enjoy.

 

Home Made Spinach Pasta with Pesto and Veggies

 The first time I ever had pesto... I fell in love. My mom gets credit for yet another recipe! There is nothing like fresh home made pesto it beats the jarred stuff hands down.
Every summer my mom and I used to get a giant bunch of basil from the market and make a monster batch of pesto (I'm talking a food processor full) We would divide it up into ice cube trays and freeze it then pop em out and store in a big freezer bag until we were ready to use it. This is such a good way to have fresh pesto all year long.
Okay so the second part of this recipe is pasta! Who doesn't LOVE pasta? I could eat it every day, breakfast lunch and dinner! Home made pasta is so easy and worth it. The first time Dan and I made it we didn't have a pasta roller yet (or even a rolling pin for that matter) so we rolled the dough out with a wine bottle and cut the pasta using a ruler and knife. Well I know have a roller(thanks to Dan) and I love it.

 Spinach Pasta with Pesto, Red peppers, Onions, and Mushrooms

Ingredients
Pasta Dough 

• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups flour (preferably 00 flour but all purpose will work)
• 1/4 cup frozen spinach
• Luke warm water

Pesto

• 3 large garlic cloves(or more if you like)
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 2/3 cups Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 cups fresh basil
• 2/3 cups olive oil

Vegetables

• 1 red pepper chopped julienne
• 1 small onion chopped julienne
• 6 or 7 white mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic
• salt and pepper
• a handful of pine nuts

 To make pesto
Makes 1 1/3 cup

If you are making a single batch a mini food processor will work perfectly. While the food processor is running drop the garlic in so it is finely chopped. Stop motor and add nuts, cheese, salt, pepper, and basil. Turn on the food processor until everything is finely chopped. With motor running add oil and blend well.

The pesto should be able to keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.

You will probably not need all of the pesto for this pasta dish (it varies depending on how much you like on your pasta)

To make pasta.
Take your frozen spinach and once thawed squeeze out as much liquid as you can, and chop it up.
Place your flour in a bowl or on a flat surface and make a well in it. Place your eggs in the well.

(I realize this picture has 3 eggs, This picture is from another day when I made a bigger batch)

With a fork start to beat the eggs and slowly incorporate the flour.

 

(your dough should start to look like this)

Add your chopped spinach. if the dough is too dry add a little luke warm water. Knead the dough with your hands then make it into a ball place in a zip lock bag and stick it in the fridge for about 20 min.

Once the dough has sat pull it out and roll it with your pasta roller and make it as thin a possible. Then run it through the cutting side of the pasta roller (I don't know the technical term for this)

Set the cut pasta aside (hanging it is best) You can hang it on a fancy dancy pasta hanger or even a plastic clothing hanger will work.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, while you are waiting for the water to boil, place your vegetables in a frying pan on medium/low heat with a drizzle of olive oil garlic, salt and pepper. Leave the vegetables on the burner until just cooked through, you want them to still taste fresh and not completely wilted.

When your water boils toss your pasta in until al dente. Drain the pasta and stir in the pesto.

Place a handful of pine nuts on a small baking dish and put them in the toaster oven on 400F until they JUST start to brown (keep an eye on them as they will burn easily.

Plate your pasta, top it with vegetables and a sprinkle of pine nuts and Parmesan.

Now for the best part, DIG IN!!!