Vegetarian Phyllo Pizza

A cook can never have too many cookbooks. My bookcase somehow seem to grow and have room for good cookbooks. Vegetarian Meals Good Housekeeping Favorite Recipes is one such cookbook. It is filled with recipes that are quick, easy and fun. A good find, considering that I picked this book in a rush without flipping even a single page, from my local library.

Back at home, when I had the time to patiently flip the pages, vegetarian phyllo pizza caught my attention. A pizza in 20 minutes? Sounds easy. I had to give it a try. And try I did with great results. We were treated with a light and flaky pizza, that we totally loved. Will it replace a traditional pizza in my kitchen? Definitely not. Its not like your usual pizza with chewy crust. But this is definitely a fun idea that’s worth a try. I will definitely make this often for a quick snack or a tasty side.

I have tweaked the original recipe by replacing butter with garlic flavoured olive oil. After being smitten with pepper jack cheese on a pizza, I seldom make pizzas any other way. Sorry mozzarella, you have to take a back seat. You can also add a variety of toppings, provided they don’t mush the phyllo crust.

Vegetarian Phyllo Pizza
(serves 2 as a side or snack)

Ingredients

Phyllo sheets – 6
Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Garlic – 1 small clove, fine grated
Cherry tomatoes, yellow and/or red – 20-25, halved
Pepper jack cheese – ½ cup, shredded
Dried oregano – 1 tsp
Parmesan – 2 tbsp, shredded
Salt
Pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 450F. In a small bowl, combine olive oil and garlic. Mix well and set aside.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper (I used a 9x12 pan). Lay 2 phyllo sheets on the parchment paper. Brush with olive oil + garlic mixture. Repeat twice to finish layering all 6 sheets. Brush the top with remaining oil mixture. Evenly spread pepper jack cheese and tomatoes. Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve warm.

I served mine with orzo salad loaded with tomatoes, olives and tons of fresh herbs. A delicious lunch that we enjoyed very much.

‘Shrooms In My Pizza

Pizza – a good canvas for.. whatever. Anything goes on a pizza, as long as you figure out what flavours go well with each other. Pizza base is a crucial factor for a good pizza. Although I have tried various pizza dough recipes, I always, always come back to Slash Food’s recipe. This dough makes for a mean pizza margherita. But it does equally well with other toppings too. Be it a vegan pizza , or a pizzette served on the side with soup/salad, this recipe has withstood all my tests. This is, by far, my favourite pizza dough ever.

I spotted some gorgeous mushrooms in store last week. I bagged some (gosh, the organic ones are very pricey) with wild-mushroom lasagna on mind. After a sumptuous hunter’s omelet, I ditched lasagna and decided on pizza. I am so glad I did. It was The Best pizza we have ever had. The flavors were harmonious and the pizza was just divine.

After so many failures, I have discovered a good way of getting restaurant style sautéed mushrooms. As a rule, I always sauté mushrooms in a dab of butter. I let the skillet get screaming hot, melt a little butter, swirl the pan to coat the fat evenly, lay out mushrooms in a single layer and do not disturb for 2-3 minutes. When it has caramelized on one side, toss and brown the other side. Add salt just before removing from the skillet. I’ve had consistent results with this method and this is the only way I cook mushrooms.

Coming to the pizza, there is not much of recipe, but here’s what I did. Sauté mushrooms (any kind would do) as said above. Roll out the dough thinly, top with sautéed mushrooms, sliced red onions, thinly sliced garlic, thyme, pepper jack cheese and red pepper flakes. Slide into a 500F oven, and bake for 10-12 minutes. If your oven can go to higher temps, bake for lesser time. When browned around the edges, pull the pizza out, top with shredded parmesan and serve hot.

This recipe makes two pizza dough. For the second one, I used leftover eggplant stacks. I scraped off the tomato sauce, brushed the dough, laid the eggplant slices, and topped with feta cheese. I was surprised how delicious and versatile these eggplants were. A keeper, definitely!

Edited to add: This is my entry to Click-Cheese.