Non-Pizza Pizza

Welcome to Zhee Zhee’s non-pizza pizzeria!

It’s non-pizza because I don’t follow any traditional pizza making process, I don’t let the dough rise but for a couple minutes, I don’t make it in a round pizza shape.

RECIPE INCLUDED BELOW.

What I do is throw together a quick yeast dough (recipe to follow) and stretch it into individual sized long oval type shapes. I top it with whatever the heck I want to. The cheese I use will just be whatever I feel like, generally it won’t be anything like the typical mozzarella, ricotta or parmesan. I love those cheeses and use them for all sorts of stuff…but being the multi-cultural girl with a love for variety you will rarely find me following the classics. So I highly suggest you stray from the classics, as well.

Hey live life on the edge and stop shopping for recipes. Instead use a recipe as a general idea and guideline for technique. Other than that make use of what you have, what’s in season, what you found on sale, etc.

Any vegetables or bits of meat can be sautéed with some minced garlic in some coconut oil or olive oil for a few minutes; then tossed with a splash of vinegar and some fresh herbs. This time around I had some mushrooms and fresh oregano. The cheese that was in my fridge was some yummy nutty Spanish Manchego.

In the photos and recipe below, I show you the ingredients I prepped and laid out to make it really easy for me to assemble this funky quick non-pizza, plus I share with you just how I did it.

Non-Pizza Pizza

2015-03-01 23:18:36

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Ingredients

1. 1 lb. mushrooms, sliced thin
2. 2 cloves garlic, minced
3. About 2 TB fresh oregano leaves
4. ½ tsp. each chili flakes, black pepper, cayenne and kosher salt
5. 2 tsp. each tamari and balsamic vinegar
6. Handful of roasted cashews- Yes, that’s right I put nuts on pretty much everything!
7. Handful of Manchego cheese
8. Heaping tsp. organic coconut oil
9. 1 batch of pizza dough

Instructions

1. I heated a large sauté pan and tossed in the coconut oil. When that was melted and the pan began to smoke, I added the mushrooms with the salt and pepper variety. I sautéed them on high heat until the mushroom juices emerged and then began to evaporate again.
2. Next the garlic and fresh oregano went in. I didn’t bother chopping the oregano, just tore it with my hands. Kept cooking until the juices totally evaporated and the mushrooms started to get kinda sticky to the pan and brown.
3. In went the tamari and balsamic…and tada! It’s ready to be a pizza topping! I grated the Manchego using one of my favorite tools of all time…the Microplane. It is this wonderfully sharp (as in careful cause you don’t know pain until you have grated your knuckles with one of these suckers) and it grates stuff to a fine delicate fluffy shred. **Look for my list of “gotta haves” for details coming to the blog bit soon.
4. Stretch the dough out into thin weird little ovals. Drizzle and rub with olive oil. Spread with some of the mushroom mixture and then top with cheese and roughly chopped roasted cashews.
5. Another totally non-traditional technique I love to use for my little non-pizzas is foil. It is thin enough that you can get a good crispy edge and you can shape it however you want to. Especially since…yep you betcha, I am baking these little guys in a toaster oven. Don’t even get me started about how much I love my toaster oven…all the glory of a convection oven, without heating the whole house. Its big enough to cook 3 to 6 portions of pretty much anything (roasted chicken, veggies, brownies, lasagna). Crap, I wasn’t going to get started on that, was I? Oh well. A good sized toaster oven is the bomb, and let’s just leave it at that.
6. High temp for me is better, faster, and crispier. Just make sure your dough was stretched thinly. 425-450 degrees is my temp of choice for most things. Um, mine cooked in about 15 minutes.
7. And voila, there you have my Mushroom and Manchego Pizza with Cashews and Fresh Oregano…but it’s not pizza, but it is, but not really. Who really gives a crap, it’s delicious!

Notes

1. BONUS - Bonus: My super quick pizza dough recipe that I use for flatbread, pizza and let it rise an extra hour for focaccia. In one big bowl combine 2 c. flour, 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. pepper. In a little bowl on the side combine 2 ¼ tsp. yeast, 1 tsp. sugar and ½ c. very warm water. Let the water and yeast sit for a few minutes, then add 2 TB olive oil and combine both bowls. Mix it together and add a bit more water or flour if needed. Knead the dough for a minute. Then cover with a damp towel and let the dough rise for just 15 minutes in a warm area. It is now ready for you to use however you want to. Just remember that when rolling or stretching, it helps to have a little flour on the side to keep your hands from getting sticky.

By Zhee Zhee Aguirre

The Flavor Conspiracy http://flavorconspiracy.com/