Recipe: Potato Mushroom Pizza

Although Spring is finally beginning there is still a month to go before the first true spring vegetables arrive.  In the meantime I find it nice to keep cooking with the year-round vegetables.  These include all the wonderful root crops that have been stored since the  fall, as well as the ones that are grown in greenhouses or are simply grown indoors year-round, like mushrooms. 
So really this pizza recipe is one that can be made all year long!  You just need some potatoes and mushrooms, along with some dried or fresh rosemary and your favourite cooking oil or butter.  The roasted potatoes become the base for the pizza, so make sure they are thick enough that while they are crispy on the outside they are creamy on the inside.

Ingredients:
1 medium potato, sliced in thin rounds (a bit thinner than 1 cm)
1-2 tbsp. oil
Salt and pepper
Several sprigs fresh rosemary, or 1-2 tbsp. dried
½ pound Crimini or Button mushrooms, sliced thinly
2-3 tbsp. butter or oil
Pizza dough
Shredded mozzarella
Balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400◦F.  Toss the potato slices and half the rosemary with oil, salt and pepper.  Spread them out on a baking sheet and roast until the potatoes are beginning to turn gold but before they turn brown.
Meanwhile heat a frying pan over medium heat with the butter (or oil, but butter is better in this case…).  Add the mushrooms and remaining rosemary, a dash of salt and pepper, and fry until they have released their juices and are very fragrant.  Turn off the heat and add a few glugs of balsamic vinegar and toss the mushrooms around with it. 
Raise the heat of your oven to 500◦F.  Stretch your pizza dough (here’s a how-to video), and top the pizza with the roasted potatoes.  Cover the potatoes with a layer of shredded mozzarella followed by the fried mushrooms.  Make sure to get all the melted butter out of the pan and onto the pizza! 
Bake the pizza until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to turn gold.  Remove, slice, and enjoy!  For some extra decadence drizzle some truffle oil on top of the finished pizza.