Raw Portobello Mushroom Pizza Pie
By: Barbara
Published: Saturday, February 6, 2010 - 2:53am

Ingredients




4 large portobello mushrooms
Mushroom Marinade
extra virgin olive oil
coconut water vinegar ( or apple cider vinegar. cwv is m
nama shoyu
RAW MARINARA SAUCE INGREDIENTS:
4 smalls tomatoes, roughly chopped
6 sun dried tomatoes, chopped (soaked if not soft)
1 medjool date, pitted and chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon oregano
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
QUICK NUT CHEESE INGREDIENTS:
1 cup raw macadamia nuts
1/2 cup raw cashews
water to cover
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 teaspoon brown rice miso (optional)
3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped (1 Tbsp dried dill)
1/2 small red onion, chopped
dash ume plum vinegar (optional)
TOPPINGS:
1/2 small zucchini thinly sliced, lengthwise using peeler
cut some of above zucchini slices into slivers for extra topping
6 baby bella mushrooms, thinly sliced and marinated
6 black olives, thinly sliced
1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced into slivers
1/4 cup red and green bell pepper, cut into slivers
1 small tomato, thinly sliced
several basil leaves, chopped
salt, pepper, oregano, to taste

Preparation

1 Mushrooms - Clean  mushrooms.  Remove stem. (Peel off skin and scrape out gills gently with a teaspoon) 2 Massage marinade on both sides mushroom. Set in marinade, cap side up for 30 min and then flip to other side  and massage marinade and seasonings into underside of mushroom. Set 30 min. 3 Raw Marinara Sauce - Mix ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor until smooth.Set aside. 4 Nut Cheese - Blend nuts and just enough water to cover in a high speed blender and mix. 5 Add salt, pepper, miso, dill, lemon, and onion. Blend until creamy. 6 Slowly pour mixture into a nut mylk bag (or cheesecloth) over a strainer or colander set in a bowl or pot, to catch cream.  Be patient! This takes time, but it's worth the effort. For me, it's cathartic to express this amazingly rich, beautiful cream from a bag of nuts. The process can't be rushed, so relax! (The cream from this is sooo good, and can be used to make cream soup, or poured Over veggies as a cream sauce or a zillion other ways. Refrigerate in a glass jar for up to 3 days.) 7 Fold nut mylk bag over itself (with cheese inside) and set into a clean strainer placed over a large bowl or pot. Put a cake plate on top of the bag and something to weight it down. (Filling 2 ball jars with water works, standing them on top of the plate). 8 Cover with a towel and leave all day, or overnight in a warm, dry area. 9 If you are in a rush, you can use the cheese right away, but it does taste much better if left to cure at least 8-12 hours. 10 Assembling Pizza in Portabello Mushroom Cap - Layer of marinara sauce, spread with spatula 11 Layer of zucchini slices (lengthwise) 12 Spread a layer of nut cheese using a dull knife or small spatula 13 Add toppings: marinated mushroom slices, red and green bell pepper slivers, olive slices, tomatoes, basil, shredded zucchini, red onion, salt, pepper and oregano (to taste) 14 Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 2-3 hours on a non-stick sheet covered tray 15 Suggestion: serve with raw almond bread smeared with nut cheese and topped with a slice of tomato and basil.

About


AMAZING. I was craving a good raw dish that I hadn't prepared  before, and this certainly fit the bill. I'm still having a slight problem adjusting to cool food in the middle of winter. During the day it's not a big deal, but in the evening, W and I both prefer to sit down to something warm. We had some cream of broccoli soup with my favorite cashew cream, but I still ended up putting W's pizza under the broiler for 3-4 minutes, just to warm it. I ate mine as is, because I want to get used to eating more raw and it was excellent. The mushroom was tender and juicy from the marinade. The toppings were intensely flavorful. I am finding that you need to go very light on the accents, because the flavors really pack a punch! I cut tiny slivers of red and green bell pepper, red onions, tomatoes, black olives, fresh basil...and it's amazing how potent those little toppings were.
If you have the nut cheese already made, (which I almost always do because it's so good)this recipe is very easy. You probably could make a simple version without it, but I don't think it would be as yummy.  I usually let my nut cheese sit out for a day, but to be honest, I think you could make it and eat it in the same day. It may not be as concentrated in flavor, but since you have all of the seasonings and toppings on the pizza, you probably could get away from it...just a lot more work for one meal, but not impossible.
I grabbed a piece of almond bread from the freezer, warmed it in the dehydrator, spread a little nut cheese on it and served with the pizza. YUMM! They went very well together...since there is no "bread" in the pizza crust, it was an enjoyable flavor and texture combined with the veggie pie. We ended the meal with a lovely salad made by W. Okay..here is the recipe. I did this from my head and never measured anything, so these are approximate measurements. Be creative and experiment with your own version! Have fun!