Cauliflower Crust Mini Pizzas

 Cauliflower Crust Mini Pizzas

Ingredients for crust:

  • 1 large head cauliflower
  • 2 cups grated mozzarella
  • 1 egg
  • Salt and pepper to preference
  • Parchment paper
  • Cheesecloth 

Ingredients to add to pizza: 

  • Pizza sauce
  • Mozzarella, enough to cover the crust
  • Toppings to preference. Might consider any combination of onion, mushrooms, banana peppers, bell peppers, olives, pepperoni, sausage, bacon etc.

Special Equipment: Food processor

 Instructions:

  1. Grate 2 cups mozzarella. If any of your toppings are made from raw meat, ex bacon or sausage, prepare them now as well
  2. Break 1 cauliflower into pieces and add to food processor. Pulse until it looks like rice grains making sure to stop before it blends into a paste
  3. Preheat oven to 400 F, line a baking tray with parchment paper. Might need two trays
  4. Bring skillet to high heat. Add cauliflower rice and heat dry, stirring for 5-7 min
  5. Allow to cool, then drain cauliflower rice by squeezing them with a cheese cloth
  6. Combine drained cauliflower with 2 cups mozzarella, 1 egg, and salt and pepper to preference
  7. Once mixed, divide into four discs and place on your prepared baking sheet
  8. Bake for 10 min
  9. While waiting, grate enough mozzarella to top the discs and prepare other ingredients, ex. dice onion and bell pepper, slice mushrooms etc. 
  10. Remove and add pizza toppings: a layer of pizza sauce and a layer of mozzarella. Toppings can be added above the cheese for desired effect. For example, pepperoni crisps up under direct heat. Other ingredients do well placed beneath the cheese for better adhesion
  11. Add back to oven for an additional 10 min 

Yield: 4 mini pizzas

Source: Inspired by The Diabetes Code Cookbook by Dr. Jason Fung and Alison Maclean 

Tips:

Original recipe said I only needed one baking tray, but I wound up using two. It said I could use cheddar or gruyere instead of mozzarella in the crust but I made my choice because I know it melts well and I was going to use it again as a topping. 

I learned how to make this recipe when I was on my initial health kick after being diagnosed diabetic.  I screwed it up the first few times. I thought I could make one large pizza instead of 4 discs and it wound up being mushy. The recipe said I could use a dish towel instead of a cheesecloth, but it failed to drain properly. I thought I could get away with not using parchment paper. I couldn't. 

Description: 

The sourced recipe is actually titled "Poached Egg on Cauliflower Crust". I lifted the part for the crust and turned it into mini pizzas. I think the toppings we used were mushrooms, onions, green olives, and sausage.

As I mentioned in the tips section, I'd had several unsuccessful attempts with this recipe, mostly due to my thinking that I could take shortcuts where I couldn't. I had been inspired to try and make this after I was diagnosed diabetic and taking it really seriously. After I got a bit healthier and relaxed a little, I might not have felt a need to do such things as supplement cauliflower for wheat. But at that point it was a project I really wanted to see through. Still, this was going to be my last attempt.

The problem was always that I couldn't get the crust firm enough. So this time I was glad to see that I was able to cut it into slices and lift them. When Lee-Anne tried it, she said "I hate how good pizza is", which means it was compelling enough to produce an authentic sense of guilt.

That being said, the manual labour that goes into squeezing the water out through the cheese cloth is enough to discourage future attempts. It was good, but I wouldn't necessarily say worth the effort 

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