(Serves 2)
Get your 5-a-day in one go with this delicious, easy cauliflower pizza. It takes a bit of time to prepare, but we promise it’s worth it. This recipe is healthier than a usual pizza as we’ve replaced some of the flour with cauliflower, but we’ve tried to keep it as close to a normal pizza in taste as possible.
This easy cauliflower pizza recipe serves two people and contains ten portions of vegetables.
Ingredients
- 2/3rd’s medium cauliflower (around 200g when grated)
- 14-20 cherry tomatoes (around 200g)
- One medium to large aubergine (around 200g when ‘cheeks’ removed and sliced)
- 250g mushrooms (around 200g when peeled and trimmed)
- 140g passata
- 75g mozzarella
- 20g parmesan, grated
- 1 egg (you might only need half depending on consistency of your dough)
- 120g plain flour
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- knob of butter (optional)
- 2 teaspoons salt
Method
Step 1
- Drain the mozzarella and pat dry with kitchen towel, leave to one side.
- Turn on the oven to 160 C (fan).
Step 2 – Roast the vegetables and sauce
- Remove the ‘cheeks’ of the aubergine so that you don’t have too much aubergine skin on your slices (see picture below). Cut into long slices about half a centimetre wide.
- Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
- Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Toss the aubergine slices and then the tomatoes in the oil then place on a backing tray covered with parchment paper or a non-stick mat.
- Place the passata in an oven proof dish.
- Roast the vegetables and passata in the oven for 30 minutes. Adding the passata to the oven at this stage will remove some of the moisture and thicken up the sauce.
Step 3 – Prepare the cauliflower
- Cut the cauliflower into three large chunks. Grate each chunk until you have 200g of grated cauliflower. This should be around two thirds of a medium size cauliflower.
- Fry the grated cauliflower in a non-stick pan on a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid it burning. This step will cook the cauliflower as well as removing any excess moisture to stop the base being too soggy.
- Place in a large bowl to cool.
Step 4 – Fry the mushrooms
- Peel, trim and slice the mushrooms.
- Fry in a knob of butter (or olive olive if you prefer) and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt until brown. Set aside.
Step 5 – Cook the pizza base
- Add the flour, half a teaspoon of salt, grated parmesan and half an egg (whisked) to the bowl of cooked cauliflower. Keep the other half of the egg to one side as you might need to add it later.
- Mix with a spoon until it becomes like breadcrumbs, then bring together with your hands. If it doesn’t come together after a couple of minutes, add a little more egg. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour.
- Bring together into a ball, and place on a piece of parchment paper. Add another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough ball and use a rolling pin to roll into a circle, rolling on top of the parchment paper, so your dough doesn’t stick to your rolling pin.
- Place in the oven (still at 160 C, fan) for 15 minutes. Then turn over and cook the other side for a further 5 minutes. Your roasted vegetables and passata should be ready to come out of the oven about the same time you are ready to cook the pizza base.
Step 6 – Assemble the pizza
- Turn up the oven to 180 C (fan).
- Now that you have everything prepared, the final step is to assemble and cook the pizza. Add the cooked passata sauce to your cooked pizza base, add the cooked aubergine slices, tomatoes and mushrooms, then add mozzarella.
- Cook for around 10-12 minutes until the mozzarella cheese has melted, and serve.
Free Seasonal Fruit and Vegetable Chart
We have created a free Seasonal Fruit and Vegetable Chart to show when produce grown in the UK is in season. To receive your copy, please click here or the image below.
