cauliflower-base pizza

i’ve been wanting to try a cauliflower-base pizza recipe for ages but struggled a bit to decide which recipe to use as there is a wide variety of options. eventually i decided to use anna jones’ any night of the week pizza from a modern way to eat, which uses a mix of cauliflower, oats, ground almonds, oregano, eggs and seasoning,plus i added some grated parmesan.

i also tweaked the topping – i love the simplicity of blitzing together tomatoes, basil and olive oil but wanted something with a greater depth of flavour so, as well as adding seasoning, i added some tomato puree and a little sugar. i used the suggested mozzarella, spinach and shaved fennel as toppings but also added some yellow courgette ribbons and parma ham, plus i added a little mint to the basil i sprinkled on just before serving.

the result was delicious both hot and cold - but not really very pizza-like; it’s also not too strongly favoured of cauliflower, in case you’re unsure about that. i will definitely make this again but want to experiment with making two thinner pizzas, rather than just the one. 

anna jones’ any night of the week pizza (makes 1 pizza, to serve 2-3)

for the pizza base:

1 medium cauliflower, cut into big chunks

100g ground almonds

100g oats

a good pinch of dried oregano

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 organic eggs, beaten

for the topping:

200g chopped, tinned tomatoes

a big bunch of fresh basil

olive oil

125g organic mozzarella cheese

2 big handfuls leafy greens (i use spinach or rocket)

½ a bulb of fennel, shaved into thin slices with a vegetable peeler

pecorino cheese for grating

preheat the oven to 220c and line a baking tray with baking paper.

blitz the cauliflower in a food processor until it has a fine, rice-like texture. put it into a mixing bowl, add the ground almonds, oats, oregano, salt and pepper, and mix with your hands (abby note: i added some grated parmesan at this stage, as well). make a well in the centre and add the eggs. mix it all together, then use your hands to form the lot into a ball. it won't look like a traditional pizza dough, it will be a little wetter and less firm.

rub the baking paper with some olive oil, then put the dough in the middle of the baking tray and use your hands to flatten it out until it is about 0.5cm thick, slightly thicker around the edges. bake for 20 minutes, until just golden. meanwhile, whiz up the tomatoes in the food processor with half the basil, a good pinch of salt and pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil (abby note: i added some tomato puree and a teaspoon of sugar, to give the sauce more depth of flavour).

once the base is golden, remove it from the oven and turn the oven up to 240c/gas mark 9. spread over the tomato sauce, top with the mozzarella, greens and shaved fennel (abby note: i added courgette ribbons too), drizzle with a little more oil, then put back into the oven for another 8 minutes to cook the toppings.

once cooked, finish the pizza with the remaining basil, some more oil and a little grating of pecorino.