Caprese Piadina with Pesto and Portobellas

I love making these when people come over for appetizers or just as dinner. Grilling the crust gives such a nice smokiness to it. Piadini are similar to pizza but the crust is made without yeast so it doesn’t need to rise, making it a lot easier and quicker to make. Who doesn’t love a grilled pizza?!

 Ingredients

•  3 ½ cups all- purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. Kosher salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• Basil Pesto (recipe follows)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 2-4 portobella mushrooms
• 1 cup fresh mini mozzarella balls

Directions

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in the bowl with a dough hook attachment. Add the butter and mix in on low speed until incorporated. About 2 minutes. Then with the machine running, slowly add 2/3 cup water, until the mixture comes together. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until smooth. Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Form them into disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

On a charcoal grill or grill pan preheat to medium-high heat.

On the lightly floured work surface, roll out each of the  pieces of dough into about 8-9 inch circles, about 1/8 inch thick. Brush each with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Grill for about 2-3 minutes on each side until you have good grill marks. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.  Then on the hot grill with a little olive oil grill the mushrooms for about 6-8 minutes and slice.

Basil Pesto

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh basil
• 2 tbsp. fresh garlic
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
• ½ cup parmesan cheese, grated, preferably Parmesan Reggiano
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

Directions

In a food processor with a metal blade attached, add the basil, pine nuts and garlic; pulse to combine. Then add the cheese and slowly add the olive oil while the blade is running. Salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Finally we can assemble the piadini!! Start with a little bit of the pesto on the bottom and then top with the mushrooms, tomatoes, and mozzarella then sprinkle the pine nuts on top!! Slice and enjoy.