This pizza is awesome! Enough said!
Taking advantage of the very wet season here in Ohio, I obtained some very nice black trumpet mushrooms from Dave, (my shroom connection). These mushrooms look a little raggedy but have one of the best mushroom tastes ever, probably why they call it the poor mans truffle. I paired it with some baby Corolla potatoes from Rich Organic farms, some excellent Swiss Chard from Gibson Ridge Farm, fresh goat chevre from Integration Acres and a juicy tomato from Vest Berries, some La Quercia guanciale, (cured pork jowl), and a few chunks of intense Brugge Prestige cheese from Belgium. It’s an aged Gouda only produced in the month of May and aged for at least 18 months. Perfect!
Lets make this bad boy:
Pre-heat oven to 485 degrees with a heavy upturned cookie sheet on the middle shelf
Using a seven ounce dough ball from the Easy Dough Recipe on this blog. Set aside to proof.
Cook the potatoes in boiling water until fork tender then remove and cool. Cut them in half and scoop out the middle to eat then and there. Cut the ribs out of the chard, (I do this and eat them as well.) Slice guanciale very thin and reserve for topping. Roll up the chard and slice thinly.
Cut the tomato in quarters and cut the middle out, leaving only the meaty wall. Eat the rest. Slice the wall thinly in julienne. Toss the cooked potato with two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and place one piece of Brugge Prestige cheese in each potato well followed by a small piece of guanciale. Place on foil and toss in the already-hot oven for 7 minutes. Take out to cool. (This will cook again.)
Take the dough ball and form into an 11-12 inch disc. Splash about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil on the crust to enhance the flavor of the chard and block the dough from unnecessary wetness from the greens cooking. Top the chard with the chevre and the Brugge Prestige, then the mushrooms then the tomato and the potato and cook for 12 to 15 minutes. After the pizza comes out of the oven just lay the guanciale around the pizza. The thin strips will melt in heavenly coordination with the other ingredients.
I hope you enjoy this great pizza with your friends…or even your enemies…which will turn out to be your friends if they eat this!
