Skip to main content

A new trend from New York


Like thousands of people, I eagerly look forward to Wednesdays when The New York Times publishes it's dining section. With it's witty reviews, NY Times has been the undoing of many a fledging new joint. And look at the trends it's pioneered. Jim Lahey's no knead bread started in the this dining section before becoming a worldwide rage.

A couple of weeks back, the dining section talked about another new trend in New York. That of putting cream or bechamel sauce on a pizza in addition to, or instead of the cheese. Now tell me a bread baker who would resist this idea, specially when followed by a great recipe for mushroom cream pizza.

NY Times tells you to start with a pizza base of your choice, as long as it's thin crust. I started with this base from the pioneer woman, but made it part whole wheat. So you mix 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and an equal quantity of plain flour with 1/3 tsp salt. Warm 1/2 cup water, add 1/3 tsp dry yeast and let it bloom for 10-15 minutes. Drizzle a tbsp of olive oil on the flours, then throw in the yeasty water and knead for 4-5 minutes by hand or with a handheld mixer until well combined.

Form into a ball, coat with olive oil and put in the fridge for at least 24 hours (it will be fine for 3-4 days).

Now for the NY Times magic. Slice an onion thinly. Also thinly slice a cupful of mushrooms. Heat a tbsp of butter and on very low heat, cook the onions until soft. Add mushroom, salt and pepper then cook on a low heat, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are cooked and the moisture they exuded has all evaporated. Add 2-3 tbsp of cream, mix well, let it cook for another 2-3 minutes and take the pan off the heat. The mixture will thicken a bit as it cools.

Heat your oven to as high as it will go. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil. Roll or stretch your pizza dough into a thin rectangle. Let it rise for 5-10 minutes, then top with the mushroom cream mixture. I omitted any cheese, but add a little if you like and bake until the crust turns golden.

By this time, your cream's all evaporated but it manages to make the mushrooms very creamy. More mushroom-y in fact, if such a thing is possible!

Comments

notyet100 said…
this looks so simple nad yummy...thnks for the recipe
uma said…
Hey Simran,
easy n delicious!
Unknown said…
Cant believe there was cream on that! Inriguing recipe!
Ann said…
I mioss NY Times. I had to cancel my subscription when we had to climb over the unread copies piling at our door. Then I tried email subscrip, and my inbox was flooded with unread items.
I'm obviously very BEHIND on all the latest food trends. This sounds delish, and oh so elegant.

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru