Mushroom, Tallegio and Sage Pizza

by Leah Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 4 flat mushrooms
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • sea salt flakes and freshly-ground white pepper
  • 500g button mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp celery seeds
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds, cracked
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 Tbsp plain flour
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups hot milk
  • ½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 quantity Traditional Neapolitan Pizza Dough
  • 120g tallegio cheese*, sliced
  • 1 bunch sage leaves

Instructions

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4

1 Preheat oven to 190°C. Toss the flat mushrooms in half the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange on an oven dish then bake for 30 minutes, until softened, then slice into fine strips.
2 Sauté the button mushrooms, garlic and seeds in the remaining oil for 10 minutes, until well-softened, then season generously with salt and pepper.
3 Place the butter, flour and nutmeg in a medium saucepan and cook over a moderate heat for 3 minutes, until the mixture resembles wet sand, then whisk in the hot milk and simmer until thickened. Season with salt, then mix in the Parmesan.
4 Divide the dough (find my recipe here) into four pieces, then roll each out to a 25cm disc. Spread with white sauce, then top with dollops of mushroom paste, sliced mushrooms, tallegio and half the sage leaves. Set aside for 30 minutes to rise.
5 Increase oven to 220°C, then bake the pizzas on a hot stone for 8-10 minutes, until crisp. Top with the remaining sage leaves.
*Tallegio is a traditional washed rind cheese from northern Italy near Brescia. If unavailable, any aromatic washed rind cheese can be used.