Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Definitely not Paleo, and with this much cheese it's barely Primal, but hey, it's pizza without a grain-based crust! OK, it's not all that easy to pick up and eat with your fingers when it's still hot, but under the circumstances, eating pizza with a knife and fork can be forgiven. And if you have leftovers, it IS easy to eat with the fingers as God intended pizza to be eaten.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

CRUST
2 c cooked, riced cauliflower
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp garlic salt
olive oil

TOPPINGS
2 c pizza sauce (I use some form of organic pasta sauce, usually roasted garlic.)
2 c shredded cheese
Your choice of toppings
(Note: toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.)

Directions:

Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove leaves, and chop the florets and stems into chunks. Add to food processor and rice it -  pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (Note: one large head should produce approximately 4 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week for other uses.)

Steam the riced cauliflower until soft, then drain it for at least an hour. (Note: you can microwave it for about 8 minutes without adding any water, in which case there’s no need to drain it.)

First, make the crust:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with olive oil.

In a medium bowl, stir together cauliflower, eggs and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, and mix well. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 12" round, then use the back of a spatula to level it.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.            
   
Finally, turn it into pizza!

Remove from oven and add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted - approximately 3-4 minutes.

Enjoy!

Portobello Pizza

Since going Paleo and eliminating grains from our diet, one of the things I missed most was pizza. OK, dairy isn't strictly Paleo, but it's borderline acceptable, and everything else on it is good.

Ingredients:

As many large Portobello mushrooms as you would like pizzas with stems & gills removed. I usually figure on two per person. Choose large, deep mushrooms that will hold more stuff.

Sauce – I use Bertolli Organic Olive Oil, Basil, & Garlic. There’s always a lot left over from a new jar, but there are lots of uses for this stuff.

Your favorite pizza toppings – shredded mozzarella, chopped pepperoni, olives, onions, peppers, whatever. If you want to use sausage (which I did in the picture) you should pre-cook it or you will have possibly undercooked pork and definitely way too much grease dripping off your pizza. I don’t measure the ingredients, just kinda eyeball the mushrooms I have and make enough topping mix to fill them. If you make a bit too much, it goes well on a salad and should keep in the fridge for a few days.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

To make:

Mix together the toppings in a mixing bowl. Add a little olive oil to give them a bit of cohesion.

Line the mushroom caps with sauce and pile on the ingredients as high as they’ll go and still hold together. As the cheese melts they will shrink down.

Bake on a rack at 350 for about fifteen minutes – the cheese should be melted and slightly browned, and the mushrooms should be tender. We have a toaster oven with a pan that goes beneath the rack to catch any drippings and it works very well, but a rack inside a baking pan will do if you’re using a standard oven. If you don’t have a rack these can be done in a baking pan, but you might want to bake the mushrooms by themselves for a few minutes to dry them out before stuffing them.

Here's the result, less one bite which I took before remembering that I really should take a picture if I'm going to post this!