Pizza Night! Blackberry-Basil-Honey, Wild Mushroom, and Pistachio-Red Onion

Welcome to the world of making brick-oven style pizzas at home! I got my husband an Ooni backyard pizza oven for his 40th birthday and suddenly we can't get enough pizza. He's eagerly mixing up dough (luckily, he hasn't yet started slinging it up into the air in the house) and playing with his pizza peel as he chars up the crust for delicious, fresh, at-home pizza. However, me being me, I quickly realized that sticking to classic pizzas wasn't going to be enough, especially if we were doing this often. I started crafting and am pleased to share three very delicious and very different pizzas: blackberry-basil-honey pizza, wild mushroom pizza, and pistachio-red onion pizza. I know it may sound a bit unusual, but trust me, give it a whirl, and let me know how it goes.

I do structure the recipes below for use in an outdoor pizza oven, which cooks very quickly. All of these can be adapted for an oven indoors, too. I tried to note where changes should be made, but mostly it means longer cooking times and that some delicate items (e.g. pistachios, blackberries) can go on sooner. You'll still want to just drizzle on things like honey, oil as a garnish, and herbs at the very end. And finally, if you're cooking on an outdoor oven, the cook process is just 60-90 seconds so make sure you have everything completely ready to go or else you'll miss out on the delicious fun!

Blackberry-Basil-Honey Pizza

Time: 10 min

Ingredients:

pizza dough of choice

2 tsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 oz fresh mozzarella, very thinly sliced

~4 oz blackberries

basil, thinly sliced

1 tsp honey

1/8 tsp sea salt

If you have the time, heat the olive oil with the minced garlic over low heat on the stove for about five minutes, stirring often and being careful not to let the garlic burn or darken. You can mix and skip this heating step, but doing it this way will infuse the olive oil and give a more garlicky flavor to the pizza.

Roll out your dough and brush the garlic-olive oil mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a half inch border as the crust. Scatter the thinly sliced mozzarella over the pizza. (Tip: if you free the mozzarella for 20 minutes you'll be able to cut it more thinly! It won't freeze but just harden slightly in that time, making it easier to slice.)

Put your pizza into the pizza oven for ~60 seconds, following normal standards on moving and shifting to ensure even cooking. Pop it out, sprinkle the blackberries evenly on top, and put back in for another ~20 seconds. Remove from the oven, drizzle on the honey, and sprinkle with the fresh basil and sea salt. Enjoy!

Note: If you are cooking indoors, you can put the blackberries on to start since a regular oven won't pop them like the high heat of a pizza oven will!

Pistachio-Red Onion Pizza

Time: 25 min

Ingredients:

pizza dough of choice

1/4 c shelled roasted pistachios, unsalted

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

~4 oz Piave Vecchio cheese

1 tsp truffle oil

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tsp honey

Pre-heat your oven to 325 F. Spread the pistachios evenly on a small baking sheet and bake for ten minutes. Remove and let them cool slightly. This will toast the pistachios and should give off a really nice flavor without browning any of the nuts.

Use a grater to very thinly slice the Piave Vecchio.

Roll out your dough and spread the Piave Vecchio evenly across the dough, leaving about half an inch border for crust. Scatter the red onion evenly across the pizza and drizzle with truffle oil.

Put your pizza into the pizza oven for ~60 seconds, following normal standards on moving and shifting to ensure even cooking. Pop it out, sprinkle the pistachios evenly on top, and put back in for another ~20 seconds. Remove from the oven, drizzle on the honey, and sprinkle with the fresh rosemary. Enjoy!

Wild Mushroom Pizza

Time: 1 h 20 (mostly for roasting garlic in advance!)

Ingredients:

pizza dough of choice

1 whole garlic head

3 oz fontina

8 oz wild mushrooms or your favorite mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp fresh Thyme, chopped

1 tsp truffle oil

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Remove the outer papery shell of the garlic head, leaving all of the cloves intact. Wrap the head in foil and roast for one hour. Remove and let it cool. Once it is cool enough to handle, split open and remove the roasted garlic from all of the cloves. Place in a small bowl and mash with a fork.

While the garlic is roasting, you can prepare the rest of the ingredients. Shred the fontina cheese. Get the olive oil heating over medium to medium high heat on your stove and saute the wild mushrooms for about ten minutes, or until their juice is released and they have nicely browned. Stir regularly to keep from burning.

Roll out your preferred pizza dough. Spread the roasted garlic evenly across the dough, leaving about a half inch border all the way around for the crust. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top. Spread the sauteed mushrooms evenly on top.

Put your pizza into the pizza oven for 60-90 seconds, following normal standards on moving and shifting to ensure even cooking. When it's done cooking, remove from the oven, drizzle on the truffle oil, and sprinkle with the fresh Thyme. Enjoy!