Roasted garlic is delicious with anything. Mixing some cannellini beans to the roasted garlic not only adds a little more protein, but it makes a flavorful base over the pizza. Miyoko’s vegan mozzarella is one of my favorite cheeses; but you can use any plant based cheese here, or even make your own. I also have my usual pizza crust that I make from a mix; but you can also make your own crust if you desire or have more time. Mushrooms are another favorite of mine. Shiitake mushrooms are so flavorful. This combination of pizza toppings is really delicious. As always, feel free to substitute other mushrooms. Once they are roasted, they all have a richer flavor and make a dish more savory.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the cleaned, sliced mushrooms in a bowl, and mix them with the tamari and coconut oil until well combined. Then place the mushrooms on a parchment lined cookie sheet and roast for about 30 minutes. Take the bulb of garlic and loosely wrap it in tin foil. Add this to the oven to roast along with the mushrooms for 30 minutes also. Remove both the mushrooms and the garlic from the oven and set aside. Next, turn up oven to 450F; or make your own crust according to directions on the package. For the crust I use, it will make one large or two smaller pizzas. Put the crust in the oven for 20 minutes (or as per the package instructions). When the roasted garlic is cool enough to handle, remove the skins and squeeze out the roasted garlic. Drain the can of cannellini beans and add about half the can of them to to a food processor. Add the water and salt and process until smooth. You can also mash the beans with a fork, and add garlic and salt. I ended up using my mini-prep processor for this since it was a smaller amount, and sometimes the larger food processors can’t process if the ingredients fall below the large blade. (Store the rest of the beans in a container in the fridge for another meal). After the pizza crust has had it’s initial 20 minutes in the oven, remove it from the oven and cover the crust with the roasted garlic spread. Add the arugula, and then slice up the package of mozzarella cheese, and arrange the pieces on the pizza. Put back in the oven for about 10 minutes. You can remove the pizza after about 8 minutes and add the mushrooms; then put back in the oven for a few more minutes. You just want to be sure not to overcook the mushrooms since they’ve already been cooked. I find that it works out better to cook the mushrooms separately first; then add them to the pizza towards the end of the cook time to warm them up again.
