Imagine my excitement when I discovered that my favourite pizza place, Col'Cacchios, have started making cauliflower-base pizzas! We treat ourselves to a gluten-free pizza there now and then but I was so keen to try their cauliflower-base pizza. That's why last night we treated ourselves to a date night of pizza and some red wine:)
It wasn't totally awful... but it wasn't good either. The base was soggy and tasteless. It was a struggle to get it off the pizza plate and onto our dinner plate. It all kind of collapsed and you ended up eating something more like pizza mash then actual pizza. It was also expensive! A normal pizza there is 28cm and it costs about R100. The cauliflower-based pizza is 21cm and it's the same price. We didn't think it was worth it at all.
In fact, GLM paid me a huge compliment when she said this one doesn't hold a candle to MY cauliflower pizza recipe! Bless her heart:) I actually agreed with her though! I think next time we go out for pizza, we'll stick with the gluten-free base and just treat it like what it is... A rare treat night!
So anyway, I have friends who are following a very banting-friendly diet right now and they have been asking me for my cauliflower pizza recipe which is why I decided it was time to blog about it. Honestly, don't spend a fortune on a pizza that isn't going to cut it when you can make it at home for less than half the price and 20 times the taste.
You can read all of the awesome benefits of cauliflower in my cauliflower rice recipe. The main reason for people substituting cauliflower for rice, mash and pizza bases is that their grainy equivalents are very calorie-dense and they're linked to diseases as well. Cutting them out of the diet for a period of time has led to huge amounts of weight-loss for people. Using cauliflower means you can eat the same quantity for less than half the calories. Plus, it's all round a healthier meal.
So, without further ado, here is my recipe. Needless to say, all of these ingredients are organic and free range (how well do you know me by now;):
Ingredients
Base:
2.5 cups grated cauliflower (or use your food processor)
1 large egg, beaten
1 Tbs butter
1 cup grated cheese
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oreganum
1 clove garlic, chopped small
1/2 an onion or 1 small onion, chopped small
Topping (this is really up to you. This is what we used):
1 pack bacon, cooked
1 tomato, diced or sliced (depends on your preference)
1 cup cheese
1/2 avo, sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced and fried in butter (or coconut oil or lard if you prefer)
Sprinkle of oreganum
1/2 a sliced banana (this was on GLM's half, not mine!)
Method
Base:
- Preheat your oven to 220º C
- Lay some baking sheet on a baking tray or pizza pan if you have one
- Place a saucepan on the stove and put it on medium heat
- Add the butter
- Add the garlic and onion
- Fry for about 3 minutes until nice and soft
- Add the cauliflower and fry for about 5-10 minutes
- Remove from heat and allow a few minutes to cool while you prepare your other ingredients
- Into a mixing bowl, add cheese, egg, basil and oreganum
- Mix up and then add cooled cauliflower and mix well
- Spread your dough on your baking tray making sure not to leave any holes. Try make the thickness the same all over. It will seem weird. Don't worry. It comes together in the baking!
- Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn
- Remove from oven and add all toppings except avocado and banana
- Put oven onto grill and place under grill for 2-3 minutes
- Remove and eat!
Your base will go crunchy if you give it time to. It's never going to be as sturdy as a gluten base pizza but I promise you the taste will make eating with a knife and fork worthwhile. It's honestly the tastiest pizza we've ever eaten. What I do is cook up a huge batch of cauliflower and freeze it in 2½ cup size portions so it cancels out a lot of the work. That means that, when you want your pizza, it's good to go in about 25 minutes.
Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment