Did you know you can make an s-load of stuff out of cauliflower? But hold on, before you start in with “yeah, yeah, cauliflower mashed potatoes - old news” (old news or not, they’re soo good) I’m going to have to interrupt you. Sorry.
'Cause you can also make T-Bone cauliflower steak and cauliflower chocolate cake (I’ve tried both and they’re totally legit), I’m going to do Taco Tuesday tomorrow using this cauliflower tortilla recipe, and tonight I’ll be eating the leftovers from last night's skinnied-up version of my favorite food ever, using cauliflower pizza crusts.
I've made cauliflower pizza crust before and I shall be honest with you, it took me a couple of go-rounds to get it right becaaaauuuse many of the recipes I used in the beginning failed to mention the importance of squeezing the water out of the riced cauliflower. Skip that step and you'll be fork n' knifin' it which is fine, just not very pizza-like.
You can always do a traditional pizza sauce, but I love me some pesto pizza so that’s what we’re going with here tonight. I’m actually a pesto traditionalist but I begrudgingly gave kale pesto a whirl a few months back when I was too lazy to drive to WF for basil. To my great surprise it turned out to be the bomb.com.
Here’s what ya need:
1 head (about 3 cups) cooked, riced cauliflower
½- 1 cup shredded shredded or grated Parmesan cheese, depending on how cheesy you want it to taste. I go pretty light.
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon dried oregano and / or basil
½ teaspoon crushed garlic
pinch of salt
Kale Pesto (hold your horses, recipe to follow), shredded cheese or Parmesan, and choice of your toppings*
To rice the Cauliflower:
Remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain - crumbly small chunks, taking care not over-do pulse into a puree. Microwave riced cauliflower in a mic-safe bowl for 8 minutes. Wring the cauliflower out in a dish towel (you may want gloves, it’ll be hot) until the liquid is g-o-n-e.
To Make the Crust:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment (not wax, unless you want a smoke filled kitchen) paper.
In a medium bowl, stir together cauliflower, egg and Parmesan. Add oregano, basil, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a rectangle. Make it pretty. Optional: Brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven.
Add pesto, toppings and cheese, and broil on high 3-4 minutes if using cheese.
*Note: Pre-cook any toppings ‘cause it’s only going under the broiler long enough to melt the cheese.
** Also, The pesto is so tasty that I actually skipped the Mozzarella the last time I made this, just loaded it with roasted veggies and dusted it with a little Parm. It was perf.
To Make the Kale Pesto:
2 cups packed kale
½ c toasted pine or walnuts
2 tbsp grated Parm, Percorino, or Romano cheese
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp Kosher or sea salt
¼ c olive or grape seed oil
Food process until smooooooth.
I topped my pizza with roasted tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, olives, and bell peppers and skipped the cheese. It was perfect, exactly what I was in the mood for :)
Happy Meatless Monday, darlings. Hope your week is off to a fabulouso start ♥
Ciao,
MM
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