This weekend I wanted to be mindful of using up what we had in the pantry or freezer and of the type of ingredients I chose. On Friday, I noticed we had a bag of frozen pizza dough and decided to defrost it to make one of my favorite pizzas–barbecue chicken pizza. However, I wanted to find a more environmentally friendly recipe, and we also had mushrooms in the fridge, so I found this recipe from Bon Appetit. I did have to go and buy smoked Gouda cheese and fresh mozzarella but other than that, we had all the other ingredients. Plus I made sure to use up the leftover ingredients in some delicious Egg Cups — post to come!
Here’s what you’ll need for the pizza:
- 6 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound store-bought pizza dough, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce (or more to taste)
- 4 oz. fresh mozzarella torn into pieces
- 2 oz shredded low-fat mozzarella
- 2 oz smoked Gouda cheese
- 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
- Salt and pepper
- Crushed red pepper flakes (optional, for serving)
- Cooking spray
The first step is to preheat the oven to 475 degrees (or the temperature at which the pizza dough label recommends). Then drizzle the mushrooms with the olive oil in a large bowl and toss.
Next, spray a 12-inch cast iron skillet or griddle pan, including the sides, with the cooking spray. Work the pizza dough into a flat disk and then stretch and press it so it fits the pan, with a little edge around the rim.
Bake the crust for approximately 5 minutes. The crust should be starting to set but not brown at all. Remove from the oven and spread the barbecue sauce over the entire surface. Top with the three cheeses, followed by the onions and then the mushrooms. It’s important to put the mushrooms on top of the onions, otherwise, the onions may get too brown. Also, try to use all of the mushrooms–it will look like a lot but they really cook down. Finish with salt and pepper.
Return the cast iron pan and pizza to the oven and cook until the crust is golden brown underneath, the cheese is melted and the mushrooms are golden brown–16 to 20 minutes or so.
If you have a broiler, broil the pizza for approximately 2 minutes (our broiler doesn’t work, so we skipped this step and it turned out fine)
To serve, drizzle with more barbecue sauce and crushed red pepper flakes.
Delicious, healthy and pretty sustainable.
