Portobello Pizza

Since this is the first Friday of the Lent season, I'm giving props to all things "non-meat." I was amazed to see how many vegetarian recipes are out there. Everything from lentil burritos to vegetarian enchiladas. Here is my now famous, Portobello Pizza. If you're a meat lover, you'll love this pizza because the Portobello’s have a meaty flavor to it. You can make your own pizza dough, but I find that store bought pizza dough works well, too. I highly recommend Trader Joe's pizza dough. You'll find it in the cheese section.

INGREDIENTS (makes 1 large pizza)

• 2 Portabellas (big ones)
• 1 large red bell pepper
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• 1 package of pizza dough
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce (any pizza sauce will do, however I have to promote Trader Joe's pizza sauce b/c it tastes very fresh)
• 1 large Plum tomato, sliced
• 4 oz. Goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup grated low-fat Mozzarella cheese
• 3 Basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• A cold ice-bath ready for the pepper

First pre-heat your broiler.

Drizzle about a teaspoon of olive oil all over the red bell pepper and put it in a sheet pan. Next, drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil under each cap of mushroom, sprinkle with salt and pepper and put it in the same sheet pan with the red bell pepper, cap side down.

Place the veggies under the broiler. Broil the mushrooms for 5 minutes, the remove and let cool. Let the pepper blister all over. This will take about 5 to 8 minutes. Remove the pepper once it has blackened and blistered all over.

Immediately plunge the pepper in a bath of cold-ice water for 30 seconds. Remove and peel away the skin. Seed the pepper and cut it into strips. Set aside.

Slice the Portabellas into 1/4" thick slices and set aside.

Turn off broiler and now pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, roll out your pizza dough into 12" diameter. Place it in a pizza pan. Spread the pizza sauce and top with the slices of red bell pepper and portabella mushroom. Then add the sliced tomatoes, dot with the goat cheese then spread the mozzarella.

Bake in the 400 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes. You want the pizza dough edges to brown and the cheese melt. Remove from oven and immediately cut into slices. Sprinkle the basil leaves and serve!