Quick tortilla pizzas

I kept seeing recipes where people recommend using a tortilla to make a small pizza, but the result never came out like I expected. The directions were too vague, and the tortillas came out too soft. It made little pizzas that had to be eaten with a knife and fork, but even then, it was awkward to eat. That all changed, however, when I saw the Back of the Napkin section of last December’s Bon Appétit, which featured Jacques Pépin’s take on it. Here are his directions, verbatim.

“Tortillas make the best pizza for lunch. Rub a bit of olive oil on both sides of the tortillas and then top with slices of tomato, arugula, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt & pepper. Bake in 425 ° oven for 10 minutes and enjoy.”

This worked perfectly, giving me mini-pizzas with a crispy crust that held up to being help up. I didn’t use the drizzle of olive oil in the topping, and I was out of arugula, but I used up my green onions, and it was delicious. Of course, you can adapt the toppings to your taste.

I also recommend using this method for the crust and making a vegan pizza with mushrooms and Tofutti cream cheese, such as this one. I made it once and loved the topping, but the tortilla hadn’t worked out to my satisfaction. I’ll try Jacques Pépin’s method next time. Here’s the topping recipe, which you can put straight on the baked crust.

1 Tbsp oil
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 package of mushrooms or 2 portabella caps, sliced
1 Tbsp soy sauce
Tofutti’s herb & chive cream cheese (or plain cream cheese with your own additions)
fresh basil, chopped

In a sauté pan over medium heat, add the oil and the garlic. Next, add the mushrooms. Once they get a nice sear, add the soy sauce. Sauté another 3-4 minutes.

Spread the cream cheese onto the crisp tortilla, then top it with the garlicky mushrooms and garnish with basil.