A couple of weeks ago I saw a great recipe posted on Twitter. This was a healthy alternative to pizza which used cauliflower as a primary ingredient in the base.

To be quite honest, I was a little unsure about using cauliflower to make an entire pizza crust, but trust me when I say this – it is pretty amazing, and I will definitely be making it again!

This recipe is easy to follow and shows pizza can be healthy, and still deliciously good. The crust already has cheese so you don’t really need much more on top.

Also pays keep in mind that the cauliflower crust isn’t quite as hearty as most regular pizza dough so you don’t want to weigh it down with a lot of ingredients.

Healthy Pizza with a Cauliflower Crust
Serves 8

For the crust:

1/2 head cauliflower (about 2 cups)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup parmesan (an alternative can be mozzarella)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano

Pre-heat oven to 400° F. Grease and line a baking tray.
Remove the stems and leaves from your cauliflower and chop the florets into chunks. Add to a food processor and pulse just until the texture is similar to rice. If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater or chop it.
Place cauliflower in an uncovered microwave-safe bowl and cook for 8 minutes. In a bowl combine the cooked cauliflower with all remaining ingredients.
Spread dough out evenly over the baking paper. The pizza should be about 9-10 inches in diameter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden, crispy on the edges and cooked through the middle.
Remove the crust from the oven.
Top with pizza sauce and toppings. You can top the pizza with whatever you like desire. Keep is simple. Be careful not to add too many heavy toppings as you don’t want to weigh down the crust.
Bake the pizza for 5 minutes, or until the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted. Allow the pizza to cool for 2-3 minutes then cut and serve immediately.

Tip: I found the pizza only lasted 1-2 days in the fridge, so it is best eaten in one go!

I really enjoy going home to see my family. My Mum is a great cook and most things I’ve learnt in the kitchen have been from her. Yep, there is nothing quite like coming home to Mum’s cooking! Even if it is for just one weekend every now and then.

This experience is made even more enjoyable when it is italian. There are some recipes I have hidden away in several books that I’d like to try to make myself one day. Calzone, bruschetta, homemade ciabatta… these are just a few and will all (hopefully) feature in future posts. Italy, particularly Florence, is one place I cannot wait to visit!

Pizza is usually quite quick and relatively cheap to make. I must admit, I have struggled to find a really nice pizza dough recipe but Mum makes a really good one so I thought I would copy it down and share it. Mmmm, delicious pizza!

Pizza

For the pizza dough

1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 tablespoon of oil
A combination of milk and water

For the topping (anything that suits your fancy really, these are some of my favourites)

Tomato paste
Pesto
Onion
Sun-dried tomatoes
Olives
Capers
Mushrooms
Italian sausage

As simple as this! Combine the oil and the other dry ingredients. Mix to a dough with milk and water. This pizza dough only needs a very light knead. Roll the dough out and place into a pizza plate. I like round pizzas so have a circular pizza tray but you can use pretty much any baking tray.

Top with anything you so desire, a combination of tomato paste and pesto (you can even make your own) is a good start. Onion, mushrooms, olives…I’ll leave it up to you. Traditional pizzas only use 2 or 3 toppings per base but I like a few more than this. Cover with cheese, I find putting mozzarella on after the tomato paste/pesto combination and before the mushrooms, cabanossi (similar to salami), olives etc is a good idea. The cheese then won’t go hard on top when put in the oven and the pizza has a really nice stringy feel to it. You can then top with a small amount of regular cheese.

Put the pizza into a pre-heated oven (200°degrees) for about 20 minutes. Like most pizzas, this one is even tastier the next day for lunch. Enjoy!