Pandalus Pandamonium Pizza and an Ingredient Alert: Crunchy Roasted Mushrooms

The Pizza

Maine shrimp came in at the beginning of the month. To celebrate, we made a pizza with caramelized onions, swiss chard, artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and, of course, shrimp.

The Mushrooms

I've never been satisfied with mushrooms on pizza. Recently, however, I discovered you can make them much better by pre-roasting them. Slice up a variety of crimini, shiitake and other suitable mushrooms and coat them with olive oil in a bowl. Crush loads of garlic and toss it with the mushrooms. Add some salt and pepper. Spread the mushrooms out on a baking sheet or sheets and roast them at 420°, stirring occasionally, until they begin to turn slightly crispy—about forty minutes. What comes out, depending on how long you roast them, is either little morsels of concentrated mushroomness or garlicky mushroom chips. Either way, these are a really useful ingredient for all kinds of things. We made a vegan lasagna with them that was very good. It's hard not to just eat them up by themselves when they come out of the oven.