Mushroom Shishito Pepper Pizza and No Man of God

Hello! Welcome to Pizza and a Movie. I, for one cannot believe it’s already Friday again – and the first of October. Soon we will be decorating the front yard with Halloween decorations and plenty of pumpkins. Today’s pizza is a combination I have been thinking about for a few weeks. A pizza with Asian flavors; mushrooms and shishito peppers sautéd with soy sauce and rice vinegar, topped with Fly By Jing Chili Crisp and fresh scallions. I hope it sounds more intriguing than weird to you, because this pizza kinda blew our minds. Let’s get right to it! Mushroom Shishito Pepper Pizza.

Today’s movie is No Man of God, which I have been really excited to watch because an old friend of mine is the editor of this new film. But we will get to that after the pizza.

Mushrooms and Shishito Peppers

The prep for this pizza is pretty simple. I want to get as much moisture as possible out of the mushrooms; and I want to blister and soften the shishito peppers. I am going to do this sauté kinda low and slow. I don’t want to smoke up the kitchen with blistering the shishitos. While most recipes call for tossing the peppers in a smoking hot pan to quickly blister them, sautéing them on medium for a longer bit of time works just fine and I won’t create a bunch of smoke. Let’s start with the mushrooms, though.

Over medium heat, with about 1/4 cup of water, cook the sliced mushrooms, stirring occasionally until the water evaporates. When the water is cooked off, drizzle just a little sesame oil over the mushrooms and keep sautéing until the mushrooms begin to brown. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate and drizzle a little olive oil in the pan and then add the halved, stemmed shishito peppers. Leave them undisturbed for about 4 minutes, give them a stir and let them go for another 4 minutes.

Keep cooking and stirring the shishitos until they develop blistered deep brown spotting, maybe another 5 minutes, or so. When the shishitos have spotty brown blistering, add the mushrooms back to the pan. Give it all a stir to combine and drizzle some soy sauce and a splash of rice vinegar to finish.

Transfer the mushrooms and peppers to a bowl, let cool, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Mushroom Shishito Pepper Pizza

We are back out at the wood oven today, so I have all my ingredients prepped and ready to go. In addition to the mushrooms and shishito peppers, I have low moisture mozzarella that I have torn (like string cheese) in large-ish pieces. Mozzarella has a mellow flavor that will play well with the umami-packed savory flavors of the soy mushrooms and shishitos, and with the chili crisp topping we will dollop and drizzle over the baked pizza. I also have about 3 scallions, thinly sliced – also for finishing the pizza.

Preheat your home oven to 450 degrees. Once the oven is up to temp, spin, roll or stretch the dough into a 12-inch round on the pizza peel dusted with flour.

First, spread a layer of the torn mozzarella cheese. Use most of the cheese, and reserve several pieces for topping the mushrooms and peppers.

Spread the mushroom and shishito mix over the cheese and then top with the remaining cheese.

Ready for the Oven!

Bake the pizza in your home oven for about 15 minutes, until the crust is puffy and golden and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

When the pizza comes out of the oven, dollop and drizzle the Fly By Jing Chili Crisp over the pizza. Use as much or as little as you like.

Fly By Jing Chili Crisp is a savory mix of chilis, oil and Sichuan pepper. It has an incredible umami-rich flavor, with the slight tingling of Sichuan peppers. It’s not super spicy and a little goes a long way, so start small. If you’ve never had it before, try it before you put it on the pizza, so you can gauge how much to use.

Then, top the pie with the fresh scallion slices.

I just love the colors of this pizza! It’s so earthy, and the bight green pops from fresh scallions is just gorgeous! I wasn’t totally surprised that this would be a good combination. But the way the gooey mozzarella and the crispy, chewy crust complimented the soy-flavored, meaty mushrooms; the crunchy, blistered shishitos; the chili crisp and the fresh allium crunch of the scallions left both Alex and me a little speechless.

Movie Night: No man of God

We have our Mushroom Shishito Pepper Pizza ready, so let’s get to the movie! No Man of God is based on the real-life conversations between FBI Investigator Bill Hagmaier (Elijah Wood) and Ted Bundy (Luke Kirby), in the time leading up to Bundy’s execution in 1989. Hagmaier joined the FBI as part of its Behavioral Science Unit, which sought to develop profiles of serial killers for the eventual use of “profiling” to investigate serial murders. If this sounds familiar, it is the premise for the show Mindhunter on Netflix. No Man of God explores the complicated bond that develops between the two men during Hagmaier’s quest to understand the mind of a serial killer.

Most of the film plays out in an interview room in the Florida State Prison where Bundy was imprisoned, which gives the film more of a stage play feeling; which only heightens the intensity of their conversations. Excellent performances by both actors, with Kirby giving an eerily accurate portrayal of Bundy. No Man of God is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Thank you for joining me today for Pizza and Movie! In case you missed a Friday, or need some more pizza/movie inspiration, check out the Pizza and a Movie tab for all the recipes and movies. See you again soon, friends. Take care and be well, xo Kelly

Print Recipe

Mushroom Shishito Pepper Pizza

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Dinner, Main Course – American/Asian/Italian

By Kelly Djalali – Serves: 2-4

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 15-20 Minutes – Total Time: ~35 Minutes

Blistered Shishito peppers and mushrooms sautéd with soy sauce and rice vinegar top a mozzarella base; finished with chili crisp and scallions.

Ingredients

• 1 8-oz. Package of Mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup Water
• Drizzle of Sesame Oil
• Drizzle of Olive Oil
• 8 oz. Shishito Peppers, stemmed and sliced in half on the bias
• Drizzle of Soy Sauce
• Drizzle of Rice Vinegar
• 1 Prepared Pizza Dough
• 8-10 oz. Low Moisture Mozzarella, torn into medium-sized pieces, or grated
• Fly By Jing Chili Crunch
• 3 Scallions (green and white parts), finely sliced

Instructions

1

Over medium heat, with about 1/4 cup of water, cook the sliced mushrooms, stirring occasionally until the water evaporates. When the water is cooked off, drizzle just a little sesame oil over the mushrooms and keep sautéing until the mushrooms begin to brown.

2

Transfer the mushrooms to a plate.

3

Drizzle a little olive oil in the pan and then add the halved, stemmed shishito peppers. Leave them undisturbed for about 4 minutes, give them a stir and let them go for another 4 minutes.

4

Keep cooking and stirring the shishitos until they develop blistered deep brown spotting, maybe another 5 minutes, or so. When the shishitos have spotty brown blistering, add the mushrooms back to the pan. Give it all a stir to combine and drizzle some soy sauce and a splash of rice vinegar to finish. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

5

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

6

On a floured pizza peel, dust the dough with flour and create a crust around the perimeter of the dough and flatten down the center.

7

Stretch it out on the backs of your hands, left hand over right hand, until the dough is roughly 12-inches around.

8

Add more flour evenly on the peel and lay the dough on the peel.

9

First add about 3/4 of the torn mozzarella cheese, scattered evenly over the dough.

10

Top with the mushroom and shishito pepper mixture, and top with remaining mozzarella.

11

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and puffy and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

12

Once out of the oven, dollop the Fly By Jing Chili Crisp around the pie and evenly scatter the sliced scallions over the top.