January 21, 2013

Vegan Vegetarian Mushroom and White Sauce Pizza Recipe

makes 2x 30cm pizzas

Do you love garlicky sauteed mushrooms with a fragrant hit of rosemary? Or the taste of a delicious creamy white béchamel sauce? Well look no further. I created this pizza specifically for Jerome's palate. Firstly, he absolutely adores white sauce. He will put it on pizzas, pastas, bakes and anything else that he gets his hands on. The only problem is that since we have been vegan, we haven't tasted a delicious white sauce. So, I decided to challenge myself to make the PERFECT white sauce and OMG this is amazing. You really need to mince the onion to ensure that the onion flavour is evenly combined throughout the sauce. Oh my... I will guarantee that you will be licking the spoon after you make this. Secondly, Jerome loves mushrooms. Especially mushrooms sauteed with garlic and rosemary. He will eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner... and probably dessert if I made a chocolate sauce. Tee hee! So, I really would love for you try these pizzas as they are absolutely amazing and so rich in flavour! 


Béchamel (white) Sauce:
   ¼ cup margarine
   2 garlic cloves, minced
   ¼ cup tightly packed minced yellow onion 
   ¼ cup corn flour
   2 cups Soy Milky Lite
   1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
   salt and pepper
   pinch of nutmeg
   1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mushroom Topping:
   2 tablespoons margarine
   1 garlic clove, minced
   ¼ teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
   600g mixed wild mushrooms
   salt and pepper

Other:
   2 30cm pizza bases (recipe here)
   ¼ cup pine nuts
   1 small red capsicum, thinly sliced
   baby spinach to garnish (optional)
   vegan parmesan to serve (optional)


Make the béchamel sauce:
  1. In a pot on medium to high heat, add the margarine, onion and garlic. 
  2. Sauté until the margarine has melted and the onion is transparent. 
  3. Add in the corn flour and stir until combined into a paste.
  4. Add the soymilk, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice. Stir until combined. Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to a low simmer and stir for five minutes or so until thickened. Keep stirring to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
  5. Once thickened, take off the heat and allow to sit and cool while you prepare the mushrooms. (The sauce will become thicker when cooling)

Prepare the mushroom topping:
  1. In a pan on high heat, add the margarine, garlic and rosemary to a pan. 
  2. Sauté until the margarine has melted and the garlic is fragrant.
  3. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. 
  4. Sauté for 15 to 20 minutes until the mushrooms have reduced in size and are tender.
  5. Take off the heat.

Prepare the pizza
  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line two pizza trays with baking paper or spray oil.
  2. Divide the béchamel sauce between the two pizza bases and use a spoon to spread the sauce evenly.
  3. Use tongs to evenly distribute the mushroom topping between the two pizza bases.
  4. Top with the sliced capsicum and pine nuts.
  5. Bake the pizza bases for 20 minutes or so until lightly browned on top or to your liking.
  6. Take out of the oven and garnish with baby spinach and vegan parmesan if desired.
  7. Serve immediately! 

  • Use any of your favourite mushrooms. I used button, shitaki, enoki and porcini mushrooms. If you are using delicate mushrooms such as enoki mushrooms, you may need to skip the sauteeing step and just place them on top of the pizza before baking as they are already so thin. 
  • Make sure that the onion is minced. This avoids lumps in your sauce and also gives it a nice fragrant consistent flavour when sauteed with the margarine.
  • I use Nuttelex vegan margarine found in Coles or Woolworths (Australia).

8 comments :

  1. Ooo this looks great! Does one need to use corn flour or can I use regular flour or corn starch instead? I also have corn meal but I feel like that is different...

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    Replies
    1. Hi Melissa!! Corn starch is the same as corn flour... we just call it corn flour in Australia :) Yes, corn meal is a different thing all together. I really hope you like this!! Thanks for your comment =)

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  2. This was SOOOOO YUMMYYYYYYYY!!! THANK YOUUUU

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  3. Is it super important to use Nutritional yeast in the sauce?

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    Replies
    1. Hello! It isn't "super" important, it just adds a nice cheesy taste to the sauce but you can definitely do it without it :)

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  4. Wow, looks really tasty! Are the long strings white pieces on top of the pizza,vegan parmesan cheese? How did you get them to look like that?

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