Mushroom Polenta Pizza

Mushroom Polenta Pizza

Adapted from Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil

¾ lb / 350 gr white button mushrooms, halved or quartered

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon thyme

2 cups / 500 ml good tasting vegetable stock

½ cup / 2.8 oz / 80 gr polenta

¾ cup / 2.1 oz / 60 gr grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped

½ cup / 1.7 oz / 50 gr mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the olive oil in the largest skillet you have over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the mushrooms and saute’ for 2 minutes without stirring (you want golden-brown patches on their surface). At the two-minute mark, stir and cook for further two minutes on the other side.

Turn-off the heat, add garlic, thyme, season with a bit of salt and pepper, cover with a lid and set aside.

Bring the vegetable stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. Slowly stir in the polenta, then reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon (it will splatter, so be careful!) The polenta is ready when it leaves the side of the pan but still runny. If you’re using instant polenta this should take about 5 minutes. With traditional polenta it should take about 30 to 40 minutes. If at any time the polenta starts to look dry, add more stock or water.

Preheat oven to 425°F (210°C).

When the polenta is ready, stir in Parmesan cheese, butter, rosemary and season with some salt and pepper.

Using a spatula spread the polenta over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper lightly greased with olive oil (if you have non-stick baking sheet, skip the parchment paper).

Try your best to give to the polenta a pizza shape.

Sprinkle with mozzarella and bake in the oven until cheese is bubbly. This will take about 4 minutes.

Remove from the oven, top with mushrooms, return to the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until nice and golden.

Serve hot!