Debby's Cauliflower Pizza

Something of a guest-post here, In the interest of full-disclosure, I have to admit that I didn't actually make this beauty myself. Proving that you can still go out and socialise whilst not going completely off-track my friend Debby (visit her amazing gift shop here) crafted this delicious pizza for our semi-regular 'Pizza and Prosecco Night'. To make it SW and SP friendly, she cleverly used a cauliflower base. She's kindly shared the recipe with me (below) and it is very adaptable so you can add any speed veg you like to compliment the, already-speedy, cauliflower.  

We could choose from a range of toppings for our pizzas and I went for slices of Debby's homegrown courgette,red pepper chunks, fresh tomato slices, fresh basil leaves, slivers of red onion, sliced mushrooms and some small dabs of ricotta (basically EVERYTHING available) as well as some delicious shredded mozzerella. In this case I've split the Healthy Extra A allowance between these two different types of cheese (allowance of 40g of mozzerella and 15g of ricotta adds up to 6 syns, the same as 50g of mozzerella for a HEA) Doing it this way did mean I had to syn any milk I had during that day so remember to do this if you choose this option. Effectively, this means that by using your HEA this is syn-free - which was particularly useful for the Bloom gin and slimline tonic (3 syns) I very much enjoyed alongside this!

This dish has lots of speed, protein and your HEA all in one dish and is very tasty, filling and feels like a real treat. Unlike some other cauliflower-based dishes, there is no real smell of cauliflower and the base doesn't really taste strongly of it, either, but rather makes a light, dry, almost scone-like base. It needs a knife and fork to eat it as it isn't as firm as a dough-based alternative but that doesn't detract from this scrumptious dish.

As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the protein sources (P foods) in red, the speed (S) foods in green, healthy extra allowances in blue and syns, with syn values in brackets in orange. 

Debby's Cauliflower Pizza

Serves 2 - syn-free if using Healthy Extra A allowance for cheese

1 medium head of fresh cauliflower

3 tbsp tomato puree

3 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp crushed garlic

Diced red pepper

Sliced courgettte

Sliced fresh tomatoes

Finely sliced red onions

Thinly sliced chestnut mushrooms

Handful of torn fresh basil leaves 

2 eggs

40g grated mozzerella (be careful to avoid any ready grated products that include potato starch on SP days) 

15g ricotta 

Ground black pepper 

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees / 170 fan / Gas mark 5.

Begin by blitzing the raw cauliflower on a high-speed in a food processor until very fine.

Then transfer this to a microwavable bowl and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove this and tip out on to a clean tea towel. Leave it for a few minutes for the steam to escape until you can comfortably handle the mixture.

Then, over the sink, (with rubber gloves on if you have sensitive skin, like me) twist and squeeze the cauliflower mixture inside the tea towel to remove as much as liquid as possible.

Tip back into the bowl and then add the 2 eggs and 1 tsp of the oregano and beat into the mixture.

Press the mixture onto a baking tray, pushing it out to the edges and smoothing the surface with a rolling pin.

Put this into the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes until it is slightly golden brown (don't worry if it catches slightly at the edges).

Mix together the tomato puree, garlic and the other 2 tsp of oregano and then spread over the surface of the cauliflower base. Be sure to get close to the edges of the base

Spread over this your chosen vegetables, avoiding piling up anything up too densely to avoid trapping steam and introducing too much moisture back into the cauliflower.

Dot the ricotta in small balls across the surface afterwards and then scatter over the mozzerella.

Put this back into the hot oven and bake for a further 10 - 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and browned and serve with a green salad (or a G&T in my case!)