I’m not going to lie, I was certainly rather dubious when I heard about using cauliflower – yes, cauliflower – as the main ingredient for a pizza base. Having been wheat intolerant for about 8 years now and as someone who keeps an eye on their carbohydrate intake, the more I kept spotting recipes including this, the more intrigued I was to try. I didn’t have any idea how it was going to taste or turn out…WOW was I blown away!
Soft and doughy in texture, cheesy, substantial and successfully keeping its shape, I didn’t expect this to turn out as well as it did. On the plus side, it’s so simple and quick to make, plus the variety of toppings are endless! Without sounding too hippy or cheesey, this has actually changed my life in terms of making pizza that is low carb, healthy and gluten-free – an overall winner!
Ingredients:
Base –
- 1 small cauliflower
- 1 egg + 1 egg white
- 4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- Basil, oregano, paprika, salt, black pepper
Topping –
- Tomato puree (or passata)
- ½ red onion, sliced
- Red and yellow peppers, sliced
- Courgette, thinly sliced
- Cherry tomatoes, halved
- 50g Goat’s cheese, cubed
Get making!
- Preheat oven to 190 degrees C and grease a baking tray well.
- Put all of the vegetables (topping) in a roasting tin and put in oven to start cooking, give them about 20-30 minutes until pretty much cooked.
- Meanwhile, break the cauliflower into small florets and place in a blender. Whizz up and pulse until you get a couscous like consistency. Add the egg and egg white, cheese and herbs/seasoning and blitz again until blended.
- Spoon mixture onto the greased baking tray and spread out to create a pizza base – make sure it’s even and not too thick/thin. Bake in oven for 20 minutes until golden.
- Remove your vegetables when nearly cooked. Take pizza base out of the oven, spread over some tomato puree to cover then spoon vegetables over. Scatter the Goat’s cheese chunks then add extra herbs, paprika and cayenne pepper and/or chilli powder if you like a bit of a kick like me!
- Return to oven and bake for a further 15 minutes until the base is cooked through and the Goat’s cheese has browned slightly. Now cut up and enjoy!
