Porcini and proscuitto pizza with sun-dried tomato sauce

 

Today was National Sourdough Bread Day. I didn't have time to make Popine into bread, but in her honor, here's a pizza to which she contributed nicely.

Porcini and prosciutto pizza

Adapted from "The Little Guides Pizzas." Apparently you can now buy this gem new for 99 cents. I only paid $5.98 for it years ago on the book store discount table and still got a bargain.

Ingredients

½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms

1 pizza dough to make 1 crust, risen

½ cup sun-dried tomato sauce (see below)

2 proscuitto slices, cut into strips

½ cup grated mozzarella

Method

Put porcini mushrooms in a bowl. Pour over enough boiling water to cover. Let steep for at least 30 minutes. Drain and coarsely chop.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Preheat baking stone or sheet at the same time.

Remove baking stone from oven. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Form crust dough into desired shape and place on preheated stone or sheet. Spread with tomato sauce. Top with prosciutto, then mushrooms and then mozzarella. Bake for 15 minutes until golden and crust is crisp.

 

Sun-dried tomato sauce:

1 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 pounds tomatoes, chopped (about 6 cups)
9½ ounces oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon torn fresh basil leaves

Put a large saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil and tilt to coat bottom of the pan. Add onion and saute until almost translucent. Add chopped garlic and cook another minute. Season lightly with salt (you’ll be adding more later, so go easy).

Add tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium low heat for an hour to an hour and a half, until nearly all the liquid is gone from the sauce. 

Puree drained sun-dried tomatoes in the food processor. Stir into tomato sauce. Mix in basil leaves. Use ½ cup of the resulting sauce for the pizza recipe above. Divide remaining sauce into portions for future use and freeze. 

(Alternatively, you could use half the amount of sun-dried tomatoes and blend it into half of the tomato sauce, saving the other half of the tomato sauce for use on future pizzas.)

Rating: Tasty, tasty.