Cauliflower Crust Pizza Recipe

Hi all.

Welcome to the first in a series of recipes, articles, kitchen tips and more, in hopes of making your attempts (and mine) at eating and living more healthfully a little easier, a little more interesting and, hopefully, a lot more tasty and enjoyable.

So, first up, believe it or not, an American food ‘icon,’ PIZZA!!! . . but, with a healthful twist . . . a CAULIFLOWER CRUST!!, you heard me, a CAULIFLOWER CRUST!! . . .     I KNOW!! . . . WHO KNEW?!! . . .

Well, apparently Dr Mercola knew, and so I borrowed this recipe from him, made it a couple of times, “tweeked” it a little, tried it out on some guinea pigs. .  some friends of ours, (still are) . . . . and here it is. 

Enjoy. J

                       PIZZA WITH A CAULIFLOWER CRUST

Ingredients;

‘Crust;’

2 cups grated cauliflower (steam until soft, allow to drain and cool)

1 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

Himalayan (Pink) salt, to taste (or sea salt), about ½ a tspn, more or less.

Fresh ground black pepper

2 tablespoons melted butter (or coconut oil)

Toppings;

1 cup grape tomatoes (sliced in half)

½ cup grated Mozarella cheese

¼ cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup (or more) cooked Italian sausage meat (optional)

2 cloves peeled garlic, thinly sliced

¼ tspn red pepper flakes 

Fresh Basil leaves (a must!)

Method;

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the cauliflower, 1 cup Mozarella, the Parmesan cheese, egg, and salt and pepper, and mix well to create a ‘dough.’

Pour it out into a 10” pizza pan or onto a rimmed baking pan lined with parchment paper, and with clean hands, flatten and ‘round’ it until it’s between a ¼ and a ½ inch thick. Coat lightly with butter or oil, and bake for about 15 mins. Bring out of the oven and allow to cool for about 10 mins.

Spread a layer of tomato sauce over the crust followed by the sliced tomatoes, sliced garlic, red pepper flakes, and sausage meat (1/2 cup, more or less) and the half cup (more or less ;) of grated Mozarella. Bake for about 15 mins, bring out of the oven, top with fresh Basil leaves, slice, serve and enjoy.

Suggestion; double everything in the recipe except the sausage meat, and make two pizzas, one with meat, one without. Both yummy!

Comments; So yes, there’s a lot of cheese but it’s ‘good’ cheese, i.e, not overly-processed Cheddar or “American” etc, that is prevalent in Fast Food. Key though, is that there’s NO FLOUR in the ‘dough,’ especially no GMO (genetically modified) flour (look it up on Wikipedia) which, unfortunately, is also prevalent here in the U.S. Which reminds me, whenever I buy spaghetti noodles or pasta at the grocery store, I always look for the brands made and packaged in Italy. That way, they’re pretty much guaranteed to be non-GMO. You’ll notice how much better it tastes, and especially how much easier it feels to digest. Less bloating!

kitchen hint for if and when you use/cook the Italian sausage meat; there’s usually a lot of fat in sausage meat and so, once it’s cooked, I like to let it cool a little and then grab a couple of fresh paper towels, scrunch them up a little and just ‘dab’ them into and around the meat in the pan, just to absorb some of that extra oil.