Just like last week's tomato pie, today's pie is another that was a long time in the making. As a beer brewer, home brewer, and all around beer enthusiast, I felt pretty silly when Ashley asked me "why I hadn't tried to incorporate beer into any of the pizza pie recipes I've come up with".

After I got past my initial huh-men-a-huh-men-a-huh-men-a's, I quickly concocted a funky, malty, beer based pie to regain my beer cred.

Beer braised mushrooms seemed like a great way to incorporate  beer flavor into a pie. The earthiness of the mushrooms would pair nicely with the maltiness and roastiness of a stout, and be able to hold their own against the other flavors of the pizza. I grabbed a bottle of irish stout (I used  Trader Joe's Oatmeal stout, which is actually rebranded Goose Island Oatmeal stout, but I digress). Pouring the stout into a pyrex dish, I added some salt, miso, and a bit of lactic acid*.

[*NOTE: Irish stouts are known for the slight lactic sourness they exhibit on the finish. Wanting to capture this, and since, being a beer brewing geek, I had a bottle of lactic acid on hand, I decided to add a 1/2 tsp of the acid to the beer braise to accentuate that sour tang in the mushrooms. Long story short, this is entirely optional.]

Knowing that I needed something a little funkier than our normal mozzarella/pecorino cheese combo, I opted to top the pie with Scamorza. Scamorza is an aged mozzarella cheese that, while still creamy, is a bit more edgy, smokey, and tangy. I paired that with a bit of sharp provolone for a little extra funk. 

With a funky cheese base laid down, the malty, tangy mushrooms on top, and a little bit of roasted garlic for good measure, the pie went into the oven. Finished with some fresh grounded pepper, and it was quite the treat, especially paired with a nice Chianti...or beer, if you like that kind of thing.

Funky Cheese pie with beer braised mushrooms

2 Portabella mushroom caps

1 bottle Irish Stout

1 tsp miso

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp lactic acid (optional)

3 cloves roasted garlic (wrapped in foil,roasted @400 for 20min)

1 small scamorza

1/4lb sharp provolone

In a pyrex, mix the beer, miso, salt, and acid. Add mushroom caps, cover in foil and braise at 350 for 30 min. Remove from oven. Allow to cool. Chop into chunks.

Top the rolled out dough with sliced scamorza, provolone, braised mushrooms, and roasted garlic. Bake pizza at 500+ for 7-8 min.

Remove from oven, top with a generous amount of fresh cracked pepper. Enjoy.

-E

Meatily Meatless Umami Pesto Pie

Whenever Ashley and I get to planning out the toppings for our next pies, my knee jerk reaction always is to grab some cured meats, hearty cheeses, and potatoes (Yes, potatoes - thinly sliced, and crisped up on a pie, they are wonderful, but we'll explore that on a further post) and get down whipping up that stick to your ribs, punch of meaty pleasure type of pizza that I inevitably feel I need.
Ashley then proceeds to pump the brakes....

There are certain things that Ashley doesn't need on a pizza (meat), and certain things that I feel I just got to have (meatiness) in order to feel that satisfaction. The realization that meatiness on a pie doesn't have to equal meat on a pie brought about the creation of the following pizza delight. 

Enter the sensation of umami. Umami is the fifth taste, the taste of savory. A meaty, saliva inducing sense of deliciousness.  Tomatoes, mushrooms, soy sauce, and parmesan cheese are all food items known for having high amounts of this flavor. After hearing about a burger joint called Umami burger where they top their signature burger with ingredients high in Umami flavor, I knew the same treatment could be done for a pizza to induce a sense of meatiness.

I chose to do a mushroom Umami pesto to spread out as the foundation of this pizza.  I took: 

1 cup oven-roasted shitake mushrooms
1 garlic clove

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons bonito flakes

1 tablespoon yellow miso

2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

All this excitement went into the food processor; pulsed it until it looked like pesto. Next, I spread it out on our par-baked crust (Ashley and I like to pre-bake the crust in order to keep them crispy), and topped with some fresh mozzarella. Then I topped with some diced sun-dried tomatoes (you could use regular tomatoes, but I figure the dried variety would have a more concentrated Umami flavor), shaves of parmesan cheese, some bonito flakes (bonito flakes are shavings of dried smoked jackfish, and are a japanese staple seasoning. The taste and smell a bit like smoked salmon. On their own, they taste fishy, but in dishes they  add a nice smoked savory note, and very little fishiness. Try em.), and a bit of garlic.

This pie delight came out of the oven smoky, salty, melty, and mighty meatily delicious!  While this pie did technically have meat on it, the bonito flakes, I would hardly call small smoky shavings of fish something that a carnivore would sit there salivating over, and thus I'd call this pie a victory for those looking for hearty meatless fare.  Plus, Ashley chomped down pretty hard on it too.  Although I will say that if eating something that use to be alive, or that is still moving gets you squeamish, I would advise not looking closely at this pizza until it's cooled down a bit...

-E