Healthy Pizza? Made from cauliflower?! Yes, you heard that right … You can have your pizza, and eat it too. I first experimented with this recipe least year with my healthy food company Loving Healthy. We were teaching a ‘Supercharge Your Health’ cooking class, and this pizza went down a storm. So much so, that we decided to include it in our supper club at the time too.
It is 100% gluten free, vegan, packed with protein, whole-grains and fibre, and veggies. So good! Make a big batch and freeze the bases for future use. You will need a nut bag for this recipe (to squeeze out the water from the cauliflower). But they are easily available online (these nutbags are greta for making nut milks with too, so a great investment!).
Ingredients
For the base:
1 small head of cauliflower (approx. 500 grams).
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup apple puree
2 tbsp chia seeds, plus 8 tbsp cold water
1 tsp mixed herbs
Sprinkle pink Himalayan salt
For the toppings:
500g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 sweet red peppers
Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced.
Large handful rocket (approx 70 grams).
Lemon juice to taste.
2 cloves garlic, crushed.
Sprinkle Himalayan salt
Olive oil
For the puree:
1 large clove garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 handful fresh basil, leaves picked and torn
1 x 400 g good-quality tinned plum tomatoes
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
To make the base:
Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Soak the chia seeds in the water for at least 10-15 minutes, until a gel like mixture has formed.
Chop the cauliflower into chunks and place in a food processor until its a very fine rice-like texture (almost a puree). Strain this mixture through a or nut milk bag, until the majority of the liquid has been squeezed out. Discard the liquid.
Mix in the chia mixture and apple puree until fully combined. Add in the flour, herbs, and salt and further combine.
Brush some olive oil on the parchment paper. Divide the mixture 4 ways and roll out each pizza base very thinly on oiled parchment paper, then brush the top of each base with olive oil. Place the bases on pizza trays and cook in oven for 30 minutes until golden brown, turning half way through cooking. (When turning, remove each pizza from the grease proof paper with a fish slice, being careful not to break it)
To make the toppings:
Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms for 7-10 minutes (medium heat) in olive oil until golden brown, add crushed garlic and salt half way through cooking.
Deseed the peppers and slice them in half lengthways, drizzle with olive oil and roast them in oven for 1/2 hour or until soft and slightly charred. Once cooled, cut into smaller strips.
To make the tomato puree:
Place the oil in a non-stick frying pan on the heat . Add the garlic then add the tomatoes and Basil.
Smash the tomatoes with a wooden spoon to release their juices. Add the salt and pepper.
Once it comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat. Strain the sauce through a coarse sieve
into a bowl, using your wooden spoon push any larger bits of tomato through. Discard the basil and
garlic that will be left in the sieve.
Pour the sauce back into the pan, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes to concentrate the flavours.
Store the sauce in a clean jar in the fridge – it’ll keep for a week or so.
To assemble the pizza:
Before serving the pizza, in a bowl toss the rocket in a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and a small sprinkling of salt.
Spread a layer of puree evenly on the pizza, place the mushrooms, sliced roasted peppers and olives on top, and finish off with a small handful of rocket.
Pssst – I took the main picture when I was experimenting with this pizza, the end version is slightly different – but you can experiment! I added avocado and and cashew nut drizzle to this one 🙂
Comments