Recipe: Cauliflower Pizza

Yep, the person who “doesn’t jump on foodie bandwagons” jumped on probably the biggest one of the last year. Admittedly I’m a little late to the party, but cauliflower pizza has been doing the rounds on most of the healthier food blogs.

Essentially it cuts out most of the carbs involved with a pizza, with the crust being made of cauliflower, egg and cheese. I was sceptical to say the least. One, I don’t like cauliflower. Two, I REALLY like pizza. Three, if I can’t have tomato on my pizza I’ll damn well have everything else as normal, thank you very much. But I had a lot of cauliflower left from my mac’n’cheese (no idea why I picked up the biggest one Morrison’s had) so decided to give it a go.

It wasn’t a bad decision. The pizza tasted pretty good. I could tell it wasn’t a normal pizza base, but it didn’t taste of cauliflower. I could pick it up no problem. It tasted fine. I actually enjoyed the ends of the crust. I didn’t spend the rest of the night feeling bloated. In a nutshell, I’d make it again.

If you love pizza but hate the bloatedness it brings, are intolerant to flour, or just fancy eating less carbs, I honestly recommend giving this a go.

Ingredients

• 1 whole cauliflower. Mine was missing around 5 florets, but it was a monster of a cauliflower
• 1 egg
• 1 handful of grated mozarella
• 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan
• Seasoning – Italian seasoning works really well here
• Normal pizza toppings – I went for my trusty Pepper & Almond pesto, red chillies, chorizo and more mozarella

Now, this might be a low-carb pizza, but it takes pretty much the same amount of work as making a reugular pizza. I found it made hell of a lot more mess too…

First up, blitz your cauliflower florets in a processor until you have ‘rice.’ Apparently you could also grate it, but I wouldn’t have the patience. Tip into a bowl, cover with cling-film and microwave for 3 minutes. Allow to cool (learn from my mistakes!), tip into a clean tea towel and wring out all of the moisture. I got a huge amount of water out of my cauliflower.
Tip the dried cauliflower into a large bowl, check it’s cool (though if the squezing hasn’t burnt your hands you’re probably fine), and add the egg, cheese and seasoning. Mix well with your hands

Tip out onto a tray lined with greaseproof and pat into a pizza base shape. It looks impossibly crumbly but it will come together. Bake at 200C for 25 minutes, until golden brown and starting to crisp.

Add your toppings and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes (again, learn from my mistakes. It falls apart if you try to slice straight away). Slice up and enjoy just as you would any pizza!

I’m planning on making mini bases and freezing at some point soon too – if I’m willing to make it again that says a LOT about a cauliflower recipe! PS: I’ve done a fair few cauliflower recipes recently. It may seem like some kind of sponsored series, but I assure you it’s not. I’m just forcing myself to try out more veg!

Have your made a cauliflower pizza base before? What’s your favorite pizza topping?