Rookie Moves – Mushroom, Goat Cheese, and Fontina Pizza

We all make mistakes in the kitchen. Sometimes they are rookie moves, like the first time I roasted a turkey leaving the neck and bag of giblets inside. These novice errors can usually be chalked up to ignorance. How was I supposed to know they tucked extra turkey parts inside the frozen bird? Luckily, we learn from our mistakes. Now, not only do I remove the bag of parts, but I have learned to use much of its contents.

In the winter of 1996 or 1997 we were having friends over for dinner and I got it into my head that I would make cream of mushroom soup. I found a recipe and sourced all of the ingredients. I prepped so I would be ready, and I began to cook. It was going to be delicious; rich, thick soup with big hunks of buttered bread. Maybe I prepared a fresh salad on the side to lighten up the meal.

I added butter to the pan to sauté the mushrooms and it melted into a warm pool over a medium heat. Up went the flame and in went the fungi. As I stirred them the fat rapidly disappeared; there was no butter left, and I feared that the mushrooms would scorch in the heat of the pan. The recipe must have been wrong, I reasoned. So I added more butter. It vanished as well, so in went another knob. How could these people make such a mistake with their recipe? Finally the mushrooms were fully cooked, along with some chopped onions, and so I proceeded, adding stock and spices and cooking it down. All looked good until the final step – adding cream to thicken it up and make it luscious.

When I served it to our guests, it was as if the Exxon Valdez had struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound. The oil slick floating on the surface was thick enough to coat a seabird’s feathers. All the butter that was absorbed by the mushrooms had been released, rising to the surface. As we ate the soup, instead of creamy and delicious, a light coating of grease covered our mouths and tongue with every spoonful.

I have since learned that mushrooms can absorb an incredible amount of fat into internal air pockets, which must then have been released as the soup simmered. Cook’s Illustrated now suggests steaming mushrooms in a little bit of water until the air spaces collapse. Only a small amount of oil or butter is then added to brown the mushrooms, very little of which will be absorbed. Had I known this, my soup would have been a success. Fortunately, we can learn from our mistakes.

Mushroom, Goat Cheese, and Fontina Pizza

This recipe makes for a rich and delicious appetizer to serve guests. If pizza seems too hearty, turn it into a puff pastry tart or make it into a rustic galette instead.

The mushrooms are cooked prior to topping the pizza. I’ve adapted Chris Morocco’s recipe for Seared Mushrooms with Garlic and Thyme, although any way they are cooked would be delicious. While the mushrooms are butter basted with garlic and fresh thyme near the end of the recipe, they do not absorb much extra grease, because they have been cooked – and the air pockets have collapsed – prior to their bath in the butter.

Serves 6 – 8 as an appetizer, about 1 hour

3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 lb. mixed mushrooms, such as oyster, white button, shitake, and cremini (baby bella), torn or cut into rough pieces

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

3 cloves garlic, roughly smashed and peeled

4 sprigs fresh thyme, divided

1 pizza dough, about 1 lb.

5 oz. goat cheese, crumbled into small pieces

⅓ lb. fontina cheese, grated

truffle oil for drizzling (optional)

1. Place pizza stone in cold oven and preheat to 500 ^oF.
2. Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Add mushrooms in a single layer and cook, undisturbed until the lower side is golden brown, about 3 – 5 minutes.
3. Season with salt and pepper and stir mushrooms, cooking and stirring as needed until golden brown all over, about 5 minutes.
4. Lower heat to medium and add butter, garlic, and 3 thyme springs to the pan. Tip the skillet toward you until the butter, garlic, and thyme pool at the lower edge, and spoon the butter over the mushrooms for about four minutes. Remove mushrooms from skillet with a slotted spoon to drain extra butter and place in a bowl to cool. Remove garlic cloves and thyme sprigs and discard.
5. Separate tiny leaves from remaining thyme sprig and set aside.
6. Stretch pizza dough into a square about 14 inches on an edge or a circle about 22 inches in diameter, leaving a little extra dough at the edges for the crust. Place on pre-heated pizza stone and brush with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Bake for about 5 minutes (popping bubbles if necessary) until bottom of crust is just starting to brown.
7. Remove with a pizza peel and cover with crumbled goat cheese, cooked mushrooms, and fontina cheese. Drizzle with truffle oil, if using.
8. Place back on pizza stone in oven and cook until cheese is melted and crust is fully cooked, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle on reserved fresh thyme leaves. Serve hot.

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