Home-made Pizza with Cauliflower Base and Blue Cheese topping
Vegetarian/gluten free/low carb
I keep wishing I had shares in a cauliflower farm: it’s such a versatile vegetable, and is one 5:2 folks swear by. First it was cauliflower rice and cauliflower ‘couscous’. Now we have cauliflower pizza. The Internet is alive with different versions, and this is mine. It is deeply savoury, gloriously cheesy – yet lighter than wheat, and fabulous if you’re avoiding gluten. It looks fiddly, but it’s not, and the blue cheese is wonderful with the cauli. Each pizza is a really good size, and very filling for 1 person. Along with the pea soup, this might just be my favourite dish in the book.
Makes 2 x 20cm pizzas
Calories per serving: 296–326
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20–22 minutes
Base
400–450g cauliflower florets 100-113 cals
½ tsp dried chilli flakes or dried mixed herbs 3 cals
1 clove garlic 4 cals
20g finely grated hard cheese, such as Cheddar or Parmesan 80–84 cals
1 medium egg, beaten 78 cals
50g reduced-fat ‘rubbery’ cheese, such as mozzarella 87 cals or Emmental 137 cals
or 50g soft goat’s cheese with herbs or other flavourings 135 cals
1-cal cooking spray
Topping
50g gorgonzola or dolcelatte cheese 155 cals
2 tbsp tomato purée 10 cals or 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste 28 cals
1 red onion, thinly sliced 38 cals
90g plum or cherry tomatoes, halved 18 cals
120g sprouting broccoli, (about 6 stems) steamed until tender 23 cals
2 tbsp tomato purée 10 cals or 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste 28 cals
handful fresh basil or rocket leaves 5 cals
black pepper
1. Process the cauliflower florets in batches in a food processor to a flour-like texture. You can grate it by hand but it’ll be hard work! (Optional: microwave the ‘flour’ for two minutes. This seems to help the mix adhere but is not essential.)
2. Press as much moisture as possible out of the mixture using kitchen paper. Do this twice or three times before making the dough. Set the flour aside.
3. Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas mark 7. Line two baking sheets with silicone coated baking parchment and pre-heat. Place the flour in a bowl, add the chilli or herbs, garlic and grated hard cheese and combine, adding freshly ground black pepper. Make a well in the centre of the mixture, add half the egg and use your fingers to begin to mix into ‘dough’. Add the 50g of mozzarella/Emmental or goat’s cheese from the base ingredients and combine with your hands and add more egg if needed.
4. Divide the mixture into 2 balls and place them on the lined baking sheet. Press down on the balls with your hands to form a thin pizza base of around 20cm, pushing the mixture carefully out to the edge, keeping it as even as possible. The mixture may break up, so just re-patch it with your fingers. If you like, spray a little 1-cal cooking spray on the top to increase the crispiness.
5. Place in the oven and bake for 15–17 minutes, or until crisp. Check it after 10 minutes and if the edges are burning too much then turn the heat down to around 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.
6. Remove the pizzas from the oven and add the topping ingredients. Start by carefully spreading the sun-dried tomato paste or tomato purée over the base then scatter over all other ingredients, except the basil or rocket, and bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.
7. To serve, trim any blackened edges (or leave them – I like those best) and add the rocket or basil leaves.
More ideas from the 5:2 Kitchen The base is a blank canvas: add a cheese, two veg and some flavourings/herbs for your favourite pizza.
