Cooking for romance made easy

• Premade pizza dough (hey, this is for those who can't cook) -- we use Pillsbury, because it is available at the Thrifty Foods across the street, but we could just as well use the dough from La Collina, the great Italian bakery across town.
• Two or three cups each of three different types of mushrooms. You can get as exotic and expensive as you like, but we use white, brown, button and shitake mushrooms (ranging from cheap to middle of the range). Yeah, I know that's four mushrooms, but I pick three of the four, depending on what they have at the store.
  
• Two cups grated mozzarella cheese
• Two more cups of another grated cheese -- we part company with Rachael on this one. Her recipe calls for Swiss, we use Asiago. It is a simple rule: Italian cheeses for pizza. But ignore our rule if you like; it's your pizza. Let's face it, Rachael is a better cook than me!
  
• Four or five cloves of garlic.
• olive oil
• salt

• Set oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Spread the pizza dough on a cookie sheet, then brush (or smear) two tablespoons of olive oil over the dough - make sure you go right to the edges. Mince the garlic and spread it all over the dough.
• Bake it for 8 minutes.
• In the meantime, thinly slice all the mushrooms and sautee in two tablespoons of olive oil. The 'shrooms cook down, but you'll need to start with a large pan or do it in batches. Personally, I do the mushrooms before the dough and have them ready to go. Heather and other efficient cooks can do them in the "proper" order. (Medium heat, stirring frequently for about five minutes or until they are soft.)
• Spread the greated asiago on the dough, then add the mushrooms and some salt, then cover the mushrooms with the mozzarella. Bake the pizza for 15 or 20 more minutes or until getting brown and bubbly on top.

Labels: romance

posted by Heather and Dan @ 8:41 PM