Portobello, Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Pizza

I made my first homemade pizza about six months ago (see Eggplant Parmesan Pizza), and loved it so much that I have made several pizzas since then. I have experimented some with other various ingredients, but this pizza in particular is the best pizza I have ever made, according to my husband! It was so delicious!

This recipe is in one of my cookbooks and I have passed over it so many times. I like my tomato sauce on my pizzas, so I really branched out with this pizza since there is no sauce on it. I'm so happy I decided to make it! I just can't get over how incredible the flavor was! The recipe is actually meant for the grill, but I ended up making mine inside. I will list the recipe below how it is in the cookbook for the grill, but here is how I made mine:

First, I made the dough. I got this recipe from my BFF Sara back when I made my first pizza six months ago, and instantly fell in love with this dough recipe! Some of the best pizza dough I've ever had! And it is so easy to fix. It is WELL worth it to make your own dough using this recipe over just buying a package of refrigerated pizza crust. You can view the dough recipe on Sara's blog by clicking here. After you finish rolling the dough out, you can either roll the edges over to create a raised crust, like I did, or you can just leave it flat so you have more of a thin-crust pizza. Bake the crust at 475° for 5 minutes. After those 5 minutes and you pull the crust out, reduce heat to 425°.

While the crust was in the oven, I chopped up the mushrooms and peppers. The recipe just calls for a red bell pepper, but I also had a green bell pepper that I ended up not using earlier in the week, so I decided to use both the red and green bell peppers. Next, I sauteed the mushrooms and peppers in a little olive oil. (This was instead of grilling the vegetables.) I also mixed together the vinaigrette. After I pulled the crust out of the oven, I brushed the crust with the vinaigrette and sprinkled the cheese on top and put it back in the oven for about 2 minutes. Crumbled feta can be substituted for the crumbled goat cheese.

Next, I added the mushrooms and bell peppers to the pizza and brushed the vegetables slightly with the vinaigrette and sprinkled a little more cheese on top. I then baked the pizza at 425° for about 14 minutes, or until the crust starts to get a nice, golden brown. After it finished baking, I drizzled a little more vinaigrette over the top.

So that is how I made it and it was simply amazing! My mouth is watering just thinking about how yummy it was. You can also follow the recipe below and try it on the grill! I know I will definitely make sure to do that in the future! This pizza was too delicious to not make again soon! Enjoy!

Portobello, Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Pizza
Pampered Chef Quick Vegetarian Main Dishes
Published by The Pampered Chef, Ltd. in 2010.

Total time: 30 minutes  Yield: 4 servings

Vinaigrette
1/4 cup Garlic Oil or olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Pizza
12 oz portobello mushrooms (about 6 medium)
1 medium red bell pepper
1 10-oz prebaked thin pizza crust
1 pkg crumbled goat cheese, divided

1. Prepare grill for direct cooking over medium-high heat. For vinaigrette, whisk together ingredients in Small Batter Bowl. Reserve 2 tbsp in (1-cup) Prep Bowl for serving.
2. For pizza, remove stems from mushrooms with Paring Knife. Cut bell pepper in half; remove stem and seeds. Brush both sides of  pizza crust with vinaigrette. Grill vegetables, covered, 8-9 minutes or until tender, turning and brushing occasionally with vinaigrette using BBQ Basting Brush. Remove vegetables from grill using BBQ Tongs.
3. Place pizza crust top side down onto grid of grill. Grill, covered, 1-2 minutes or until slightly browned and crisp. Turn crust over with BBQ Turner; stop with goat cheese, reserving 1 tbsp for garnish. Grill an additional 1-2 minutes or until bottom of crust is browned and crisp. (Cheese with soften but not appear melted.) Remove crust from grill.
4. Slice bell pepper into thin strips and mushrooms on a bias using Santoku Knife. Arrange mushrooms and bell pepper over crust. Drizzle reserved vinaigrette evenly over top. Sprinkle with reserved goat cheese, if desired.