Mushroom Flatbread with Pesto, Goat Cheese, and Balsamic

Perfect Pairing:  Girls' Night

A couple weeks ago Chris was out of town for the night on a mini “bro-cation”.  For the record, he did not call it this, that is 100% me.  He headed to Champaign/Urbana to watch the Fighting Illini play.  

That meant I had a night by myself at home.  I was going to miss him, but I was also going to make the most of it by making it super girly.  I was going to make the girliest thing I could think of for dinner, enjoy a mini bottle of champagne, and watch a chick flick that featured Bradley Cooper as a chef.  I was pumped.

I formulated my plan for a girly dinner as I perused the grocery store.  What is girlier than flatbread with goat cheese?  I mean, it is actually just pizza, but we call it flatbread so it sounds classy.  If I was making pizza for my husband it would most definitely have some kind of meat on it.  If I am making it for me it is going to be overflowing with mushrooms.  Chris is not a huge fan, so this was the perfect time to go fungi-wild. 

Instead of traditional pizza sauce I used a basil pesto.  So much flavor!  I always keep pesto in the freezer, it is a great ingredient to have on hand.

The sautéed mushrooms are finished off with a caramelization of balsamic, and then the whole flatbread is dotted with tangy goat cheese. 

So good.  So girly.  Dudes, if you want to make and enjoy this flatbread…. No judgement here!

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Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Chocolate Sauce

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Four years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Oven Roasted Salmon in Lemon Broth with Pea Puree

Mushroom Flatbread with Pesto, Goat Cheese, and Balsamic

Lindsay at Perfecting the Pairing

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 pre-made thin pizza crust
• 1 Tb butter
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 16 oz mushrooms (cremini, button, etc.)
• 5 sprigs of thyme
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 Tb balsamic vinegar
• ¼ cup basil pesto
• 2 oz goat cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven according to crust instructions.  If you have a pizza stone preheat in the oven.  Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, add the shallots and sauté until they just start to soften.  Reduce heat to medium low.  Add the mushrooms and thyme sprigs to the pan and cook until the mushrooms are tender, about 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove the thyme sprigs and discard, they should have dropped their leaves in the mushrooms and will add great flavor.  Stir in the balsamic vinegar and sauté until most of the liquid has caramelized on the mushrooms.

Spread the pesto evenly on the crust and top with the mushrooms.  Dot the flatbread with goat cheese and place on the pizza stone, or a pan, and bake according to package instructions.  It only took about 8 minutes for me.

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