Pizza Stuffed Portobellas with Arugula Pesto

New loves of my life: mushrooms and arugula. There was a day that I detested mushrooms, most of my days, actually. I am not sure why things changed, but now I can't get enough. As for arugula, I had just never intentionally had it until recently, and it was love at first bite.

My new loves met in these pizza stuffed portobellas. I want to thank Jess for the idea of using a portobella mushroom in place of a pizza crust. It is such a fun and easy idea, simply fill a portobella with your favorite sauce, veggies, and non-dairy cheese and bake. I chose to sauce my caps with arugula pesto and then stuff them with artichokes, tomatoes, and non-dairy cheese. Admittedly not the most common pizza flavors, but delicious nonetheless. 

Pizza Stuffed Portobellas
(Inspired by Get Sconed!) 
Serves 2

Arugula pesto sauce:
1 cup arugula, packed
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp onion powder
1-2 tbsp water

2 portobella caps, gills scraped, stems reserved for the filling
1 tbsp sherry
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup frozen artichoke hearts (or canned)
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
portobello stems, chopped
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)
Mozzarella style non-dairy cheese
1 tsp nutritional yeast
Pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pour the sherry and olive oil in a small baking dish (large enough to hold both mushrooms), and stir to coat. Put the clean caps stem side up in the dish and rub them around a bit in the sherry oil mixture. Set aside.

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a food processor and puree. Start with 1 tbsp of water and add another tbsp if the mixture is not saucy enough. Set aside.

Heat a small skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray. Add the frozen artichokes, portobella stems, oregano, and thyme, saute for about 3-5 minutes, until the artichokes are thawed. Then add the cherry tomatoes and saute for another minute or two, until the tomatoes are a bit shriveled but not mushy. (If you are using canned artichokes put all of the ingredients in the pan at the same time and cook 3 minutes). Transfer mixture to food processor and pulse 3 or 4 times, to chop up the artichokes.

Now assemble the mushrooms. Spoon the pesto into each cap, half per. Next stuff half of the artichoke mixture in each mushroom. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of nutritional yeast on top of each, and finish off by sprinkling some non-dairy cheese and fresh ground pepper.

Bake uncovered for 15 minutes and then broil on high for 2-3 minutes to finish cooking the cheese, watching closely to avoid burning. Serve hot.