Portobello flatbread pizza

We recently visited Las Vegas and had dinner at Todd English's restaurant "Olives" at the Bellagio after seeing Cirque du Soleil. While overall I wasn't a huge fan of the place (waiter with an attitude and generally overpriced food and wine) we did try his famous portobello flatbread. To say it was amazing and completely memorable would be an understatement. I found myself on a mission to find the recipe and somehow duplicate this amazing dish. I did indeed find a recipe that I think was adapted from his and the end result was sublime!

Roll out your pizza dough as thin as you possibly can... I use Tiseo's frozen dough from the grocery store. It's easy and very good. Transfer the dough to a cornmeal dusted pizza peel.

Best if you have a pizza stone that is preheated in the oven at 475 degrees for at least half an hour. Build your flatbread on the cornmeal dusted pizza peel so it slides off easily onto the stone. I sprayed the dough with olive oil and spread minced garlic on it followed by my wild mushroom puree, fontina cheese, diced portobello, porcini, shitake and other wild shrooms, diced red onion and grated fresh parmesan. The recipe below doesn't call for diced red onions but the flatbread at Olives had them on it and I loved em! The recipe calls for you to put the fontina cheese down first followed by the puree. That didn't really make sense to me so I put the puree down first and topped with the cheese.

Bake on the stone for about 10-12 minutes or until the crust looks slightly brown and crunchy

drizzle the top with white truffle oil....amazing!!

Here is the recipe I found online. It's not exactly the same as the one we had at Olives but it's a pretty close replica! If you are a shroom and pizza lover you will LOVE this!! Enjoy!

Wild Mushrooms, Mushroom Puree and Fontina Cheese Flatbread

MARCH 20, 2007

 print

(adapted from The Figs Table: More Than 100 Recipes for Pizzas, Pastas, Salads, and Desserts)

2 pizza dough rounds (see homemade recipe below or use store-bought)
cornmeal
olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher or sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
6-8 oz. Fontina cheese, thinly-sliced or grated
1 c. mushroom puree
1 c. wild mushroooms (portobello, porcini, shitake), trimmed and thinly-sliced
2 Tbls. freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
truffle oil (optional), for garnish

About one hour before cooking, set a baking stone in the oven and preheat it to 500 degrees. Or use a baking sheet very lightly sprinkled with cornmeal

Roll out one pizza dough very thinly. If you have one, lay the round on a pizza peel (lightly sprinkled with cornmeal). Drizzle with 2 tsp. good olive oil, half the minced garlic, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Make sure to leave the 1-inch outer lip ungarnished.

Evenly distribute one-half of Fontina over the round. Top with one-half mushroom puree, one-half sliced mushrooms, and sprinkle with one-half grated Parmesan.

Slide the round onto baking stone and bake until browned, about 6-8 minutes. Slice to serve immediately, garnished with a drizzle of truffle oil and a pinch of freshly-ground black pepper.

Repeat with remaining dough and ingredients.

The link to the recipe:

http://www.loulies.com/mushroom_flatbread/

Canine Cookie fun!

So I've joined Pinterest and honestly at first didn't really understand the concept or what the big deal was with it. Now I'm hooked as it seems to be a fun way to find different things and ideas for around the house, fashion and the best part for me...new recipes! I LOVE to cook and have really had some fun finding various different yummy looking recipes and things to try. One of the pins that my friend found was for Pumpkin doggie cookies! They looked easy and fun so I thought I'd give them a go.

the dough is VERY easy to make. I will post the recipe as well as the link to the very cute blog where I found this

roll out the dough, cut your biscuits and bake at 350

Dewey is anxiously awaiting...

Yes please, we would love to lick the spatula!

Mango waits her turn

and the finished product! Murphy gives two paws up!

I made two batches as one didn't seem to make very many. I'm going to try another version I found online that has peanut butter as well as pumpkin. With three dogs, treats can definitely add up in the $$$ department. This is a fun and inexpensive way to treat your doggies!

Here's the recipe and the blog:

Cleo’s Pumpkin Dog Biscuits

2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons dry milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups brown rice flour *
1 teaspoon dried parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

In large bowl, whisk together eggs and pumpkin to smooth. Stir in dry milk, sea salt, and dried parsley (if using, optional). Add brown rice flour gradually, combining with spatula or hands to form a stiff, dry dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface (can use the brown rice flour) and if dough is still rough, briefly knead and press to combine.

Roll dough between 1/4 – 1/2″ – depending on your dog’s chew preferences, ask first – and use biscuit or other shape cutter to punch shapes, gathering and re-rolling scraps as you go. Place shapes on cookie sheet, no greasing or paper necessary. If desired, press fork pattern on biscuits before baking, a quick up-and-down movement with fork, lightly pressing down halfway through dough. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully turn biscuits over, then bake additional 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely on rack before feeding to dog.

* Brown rice flour gives the biscuits crunch and promotes better dog digestion. Many dogs have touchy stomachs or allergies, and do not, like many people I know, tolerate wheat.

Makes up to 75 small (1″) biscuits or 50 medium biscuits

Please note: This is not professional medical advice. These biscuits are a healthy everyday treat, and useful for a dog with a sensitive stomach, or minor digestion issues. If your dog is showing any signs of serious distress, remove all food and contact your veterinarian immediately.

http://simmertilldone.com/2009/10/07/retriever-retriever-pumpkin-eater/comment-page-2/#comment-8276

Viva Las Vegas!

Well we are on the flight home so I thought I'd update my blog with a few pics. I had my National Sales meeting again at The Palazzo/Venetian in Vegas. Always a great time as this meeting is all about reward and recognition for a year of hard work and success. We have a couple days of meetings, then what we like to call "prom night" which is our black tie awards night followed by a day of fun and various activities to choose from. I always visit the beautiful Canyon Ranch Spa at the Venetian (the world's largest spa at 140,000 sq feet) but next year I need to venture out for some of the other fun stuff people did. I heard about sushi making classes with sake tasting, helicopter tours, flight simulator, etc. After our full day of fun and relaxation the last night always features a headliner band that is a top-secret surprise. Usually the rumors start flying throughout the week but this is the first time in my Genentech experience that NO ONE had a clue until she walked out onstage! Katy Perry was a complete surprise and a fabulous entertainer! Our 11 year old daughter is seriously annoyed that we had a private Katy Perry concert!

Prom night with my buddy Heidi

and with Jean and Laurie

Katy Perry was fantastic!

Tommy flew in to join me on Wednesday night and we enjoyed a much needed fun weekend of R&R together. We caught 2 Cirque du Soleil shows, "O" at the Bellagio and Zumanity at NewYork, NY. We walked along the strip and shopped on Friday and Saturday and the weather was so nice we were able to grab lunch outside at Cabo Wabo! What a great time! 

The strip at night is pretty cool to see

the shops inside the Palazzo and Venetian with canal

beautifully lit up in St. Mark's square

Palazzo

Chinese Year of the Dragon - he blew fire every so often!

Outside of Paris casino and hotel

Now we are on the countdown to our REAL vacation to Sandals St. Lucia in 26 days for a belated 5 year wedding anniversary trip! Can't wait!