A Vegan Obsession

Crispy Kale & Pine Nut Pizza - Cauliflower Crust.

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cauliflower pizza crust

Crispy Kale & Pine Nut Pizza - Cauliflower Crust

With the new website/blog now unwrapped and finally a more user friendly platform, I can once again concentrate on the business of recipes.  I feel like I’ve been lagging behind with trying out my new recipe ideas and bringing you great vegan and gluten free foodie finds from the interweb.  So I need to play catch up before I can thrust on and get up to speed.  I need to tick off some of the items on the ‘recipes to try’ list.  So, here is a recipe that has been knocking around for a few years among some vegan, and gluten free blogs - Cauliflower Pizza Crust. Yes, pizza crust made from cauliflower.  My take on it is Crispy Kale & Pine Nut Pizza - Cauliflower Crust. Gluten free, grain free and vegan. Skeptical?  So was I. But, trusted sources espoused its merits so give it a go I must.  Many peoples favourite things are pizza, many people love kale.  So I decided to marry the two.  Here for your delectation is..

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 cauliflower blender Crispy Kale & Pine Nut Pizza - Cauliflower Crust IMG_5428

 

Crispy Kale & Pine Nut Pizza - Gluten Free Cauliflower Crust

 

Ingredients

1/2 cauliflower

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)

1/2 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)

3 tbs ground chia seed (or flax meal) to make a chia egg

4 tbs nutritional yeast

1/4 cup reduced fat almond flour (sorghum works well too if you do not care if it is not grain free. Quinoa would probably work also.)

1/4 cup chickpea flour

pinch of pink Himalayan or sea salt

pinch of black pepper

1 tbs olive oil

 

Method

  • Preheat oven to 450f or as high as your oven allows. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  • Mix the non-dairy milk and the ground chia or flax seeds and leave to congeal. Just 5 or so mins should do the trick.
  • Roughly chop cauliflower and pop into a food processor or high-speed blender until it breaks down to crumbs.  Pop into a suitable container and microwave for 4 mins or to be healthier steam for 10 mins.  Allow to cool then put the crumbs into cheesecloth and squeeze out as much water as you can.
  • Combine the drained cauliflower, chia ‘egg’, flours, nutritional yeast, and seasonings.  Mix to a dough.  If too wet add more flour.
  • Halve the mixture and then pour the oil into your hands and form two balls. This ensures that the oil is coating the outside of the ‘dough’.  Place onto a tray leaving room for each to be flattened and shaped into a 1/4 inch thick and roughly 7 inch circles.  You may get more depending on size of your cauliflower (Did you know that in France it is called ‘chou-fleur’?…that’s so pretty!)
  • Bake for about 20 mins until turning golden brown, and crispy at the edges. Be beady-eyed about it though as each oven is different and depending on the tides/moon phase/shoe size and your mood it could burn.  Don’t let it burn.
  • Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Not sure of the science but like baking a cake, with gluten free stuff the resting makes for good bonding time.  I’ve seen many recipes that say the pizza will not stand up to holding aloft but this one does.
  • Whilst your pizza crust is cooling, slice up some vegan cheese (or use slices..Violife are the best IMHO), bust out a can of condensed tomato paste, chop up your curly kale, and mince some garlic.
  • Now it is time to decorate those wonderful, gluten free, vegan pizza crusts!  Take crust numero uno and spoon and spread over 2-3 tbs of tomato paste. Top with the sliced cheese and the garlic.  Pop into the oven until cheese has melted.  Grab out of oven and top with a sprinkling of pine nuts and the chopped kale, grind over some black pepper and a pinch of sea salt.  Then carefully drizzle olive oil over the kale.  Grab your oven mitts and pop the pizzas back under a medium grill until the kale turns crispy but not burnt. Burnt is not good.
  • Remove from the grill (or, if you are American the broiler..still cannot get my head around that though it is more obvious to call it that..darn my English upbringing!) and EAT.
  • Now, I have to be honest, I did not expect the crust to be that great once I’d tasted the raw mix but me-oh-my, once cooked and adorned it is a thing of sheer delight.  Delizioso!

 

*tip.   Gently remove the crusts from the baking parchment BEFORE you add your toppings so that your final product is not stuck to the baking parchment.  If it sticks then wet the parchment with a little water and it will peel off, like those transfer tattoos we had as kids, leaving the crust liberated and intact).

 

 

Kale and Pine Nut Pizza with GF Cauliflower crust

by

cauliflower pizza crust
With the new website/blog now unwrapped and finally a more user friendly platform, I can once again concentrate on the business of recipes. I feel like I’ve been lagging behind with trying out my new recipe ideas and bringing you great vegan and gluten free foodie finds from the interweb. So I need to play catch up before I can thrust on and get up to speed. I need to tick off some of items on the ‘recipes to try’ list. So, here is a recipe that has been knocking around for a few years among some vegan, and gluten free blogs - Cauliflower Pizza Crust. Yes, pizza crust made from cauliflower. Gluten free, grain free and vegan. Sceptical? So was I. But, trusted sources espoused it’s merits so give it a go I must. Many peoples favourite things are pizza, many people love kale. So I decided to marry the two. Here for your delectation is kale and pine nut pizza with a gluten free cauliflower crust. Trust me on this one.

Crispy Kale & Pine Nut Pizza - Gluten Free Cauliflower Crust

Ingredients

1/2 cauliflower

1/2 cup non-sweetened coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)

1/2 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)

3 tbs ground chia seed (or flax meal) to make chia egg

4 tbs nutritional yeast

1/4 cup reduced fat almond flour (sorghum works well too if you do not care if it is not grain free. Quinoa would probably work also.)

1/4 cup chickpea flour

a good pinch of pink Himalayan or sea salt

a good pinch of black pepper

1 tbs olive oil

Method

  • Preheat oven to 450f or as high as your oven allows. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  • Mix the non-dairy milk and the ground chia or flax seeds and leave to congeal. Just 5 or so mins should do the trick.
  • Roughly chop cauliflower and pop into a food processor or high speed blender until it breaks down to crumbs. Pop into a suitable container and microwave for 4 mins or to be healthier steam for 10 mins. Allow to cool then put the crumbs into cheesecloth and squeeze out as much water as you can.
  • Combine the drained cauliflower, chia ‘egg’, flours, nutritional yeast and seasonings. Mix to a dough. If the dough is too wet add more flour.
  • Halve the mixture and then pour the oil into your hands and form two balls. This ensures that the oil is coating the outside of the ‘dough’. Place onto a tray leaving room for each to be flattened and shaped into a 1/4 inch thick and roughly 7 inch circles. You may get more depending on size of your cauliflower (Did you know that in France it is called ‘chou-fleur’?…that’s so pretty!)
  • Bake for about 20 mins until turning golden brown, and crispy at the edges. Be beady eyed about it though as each oven is different and depending on the tides/moon phase/shoe size and your mood it could burn. Don’t let it burn.
  • Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Not sure of the science but like baking a cake, with gluten free stuff the resting makes for good bonding time. I’ve seen many recipes that say the pizza will not stand up to holding aloft but this one does.
  • Whilst your pizza crust is cooling, slice up some vegan cheese (or use slices..Violife are the best IMHO), bust out a can of condensed tomato paste, chop up your curly kale, and mince some garlic.
  • Now it is time to decorate those wonderful, gluten free, vegan pizza crusts! Take crust numero uno and spoon and spread over 2-3 tbs of tomato paste. Top with the sliced cheese and the garlic. Pop into the oven until cheese has melted. Grab out of oven and top with a sprinkling of pine nuts and the chopped kale, grind over some black pepper and a pinch of sea salt. Then carefully drizzle olive oil over the kale. Grab your oven mitts and pop the pizzas back under a medium grill until the kale turns crispy but not burnt. Burnt is not good.
  • Remove from the grill (or, if you are American the broiler..still cannot get my head around that though it is more obvious to call it that..darn my English upbringing!) and EAT.
  • Now, I have to be honest, I did not expect the crust to be that great once I’d tasted the raw mix but me-oh-my, once cooked and adorned it is a thing of sheer delight. Delizioso!

*tip. Gently remove the crusts from the baking parchment BEFORE you add your toppings so that your final product is not stuck to the baking parchment. If it sticks then wet the parchment with a little water and it will peel off, like those transfer tattoos we had as kids, leaving the crust liberated and intact).

cauliflower cauliflower blender cauliflower pizza dough vegan pizza crust kale, basil & pine nut pizza cauliflower pizza crust kale & pine nut topping

What will you top your pizza crust with?

Kale and Pine Nut Pizza with GF Cauliflower crust
 
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Crispy Kale & Pine Nut Pizza - Gluten Free Cauliflower Crust
Author:
Recipe type: Pizza
Cuisine: Pizza
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • ½ cauliflower
  • ½ cup non-sweetened coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)
  • ½ cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)
  • 3 tbs ground chia seed (or flax meal) to make chia egg
  • 4 tbs nutritional yeast
  • ¼ cup reduced fat almond flour (sorghum works well too if you do not care if it is not grain free. Quinoa would probably work also.)
  • ¼ cup chickpea flour
  • a good pinch of pink Himalayan or sea salt
  • a good pinch of black pepper
  • 1 tbs olive oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450f or as high as your oven allows. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  2. Mix the non-dairy milk and the ground chia or flax seeds and leave to congeal. Just 5 or so mins should do the trick.
  3. Roughly chop cauliflower and pop into a food processor or high speed blender until it breaks down to crumbs. Pop into a suitable container and microwave for 4 mins or to be healthier steam for 10 mins. Allow to cool then put the crumbs into cheesecloth and squeeze out as much water as you can.
  4. Combine the drained cauliflower, chia 'egg', flours, nutritional yeast and seasonings. Mix to a dough. If the dough is too wet add more flour.
  5. Halve the mixture and then pour the oil into your hands and form two balls. This ensures that the oil is coating the outside of the 'dough'. Place onto a tray leaving room for each to be flattened and shaped into a ¼ inch thick and roughly 7 inch circles. You may get more depending on size of your cauliflower (Did you know that in France it is called 'chou-fleur'?...that's so pretty!)
  6. Bake for about 20 mins until turning golden brown, and crispy at the edges. Be beady eyed about it though as each oven is different and depending on the tides/moon phase/shoe size and your mood it could burn. Don't let it burn.
  7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Not sure of the science but like baking a cake, with gluten free stuff the resting makes for good bonding time. I've seen many recipes that say the pizza will not stand up to holding aloft but this one does.
  8. Whilst your pizza crust is cooling, slice up some vegan cheese (or use slices..Violife are the best IMHO), bust out a can of condensed tomato paste, chop up your curly kale, and mince some garlic.
  9. Now it is time to decorate those wonderful, gluten free, vegan pizza crusts! Take crust numero uno and spoon and spread over 2-3 tbs of tomato paste. Top with the sliced cheese and the garlic. Pop into the oven until cheese has melted. Grab out of oven and top with a sprinkling of pine nuts and the chopped kale, grind over some black pepper and a pinch of sea salt. Then carefully drizzle olive oil over the kale. Grab your oven mitts and pop the pizzas back under a medium grill until the kale turns crispy but not burnt. Burnt is not good.
  10. Remove from the grill (or, if you are American the broiler..still cannot get my head around that though it is more obvious to call it that..darn my English upbringing!) and EAT.
  11. Now, I have to be honest, I did not expect the crust to be that great once I'd tasted the raw mix but me-oh-my, once cooked and adorned it is a thing of sheer delight. Delizioso!
  12. *tip. Gently remove the crusts from the baking parchment BEFORE you add your toppings so that your final product is not stuck to the baking parchment. If it sticks then wet the parchment with a little water and it will peel off, like those transfer tattoos we had as kids, leaving the crust liberated and intact).
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Beans & Rice…quick, extremely tasty, low fat and VEGAN

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Last weekend I had a friend coming over for dinner.  A few days before I’d carried out a not so strategic supermarket sweep and grabbed anything I thought I should stock my pantry with.  After 8 months away, using different ingredients and discovering mouth watering new vegan food, it was to be a fresh start.
 After 5 minutes of picking and poking around to get inspiration I thought…a) I want it to be quick   b) I want it to be simple  c) It has to be DELICIOUS  d) and it has got to be filling.  I pulled out a few ingredients and made a decision.  The smokey scent of a jar full of dried  smokey chipotle chillies meant just one thing.   RICE AND BEANS.  


Smoky chipoltle Black beans & Brown rice with avocado & slaw salad, sauteed garlic kale, vegan sour cream & home made low fat mustard hummus.

Serves 4-6

You will need to gather…

Black beans soaked and cooked vigorously for 10 mins and then simmered for 35-40mins.  (or buy pre-cooked in a can..simple) 

*Top Tip: to save time & energy I cook a whole 500g bag of dried beans with the following finely chopped to flavour - 1 small leek, 1/4 green cabbage.  Pop what beans you do not use for this recipe in the freezer and you have a ready store of beans with which to create other dishes.  IF you just use a can of beans then add a leek to the recipe.

200g (dried weight) or a can of black beans
1 med/large onion
1/2 can chopped tomatoes
1 large clove of garlic
1 1/2 tbs tomato puree
1 small fresh green chili - mild
1 dried chipotle chili (keep whole)
1/4 tsp asafoteda powder (optional…reportedly good for digestion and adding a depth of pungency)
2 tsp Apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
1 tbs tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp freshly roasted & ground cumin
Salt & Pepper

oil for cooking onions

How to..

finely chop the onion (add the leek if not already added from cooking dried beans) and fry on a low heat for 5-10 mins until edges are caramelising nicely.
add finely chopped garlic and stir for 2-3 mins.  Take care not to burn.
Add the remaining ingredients but keep the chipotle chili whole to remove at the end of cooking.  Unless you love it hot then go for it and chop the little fella.

Simmer on low heat for 30 mins.  For best results leave to cool before reheating then serving.  This seems to really strengthen the flavours.

                                            Check for seasoning
The rest….
Salad - Two large Kos lettuce.  Finely sliced red cabbage. 
Sauteed kale - allow 2 handfuls of kale (washed and torn into pieces) per person (it shrinks alarmingly).  1 tbs olive oil, 2 sliced garlic cloves.  Bung all into a pan, bring up the heat to medium and stir fry for about 3 mins, or until the kale goes dark green and glossy and the garlic is golden.
Dressing - 4 tbs soya cream.  2 tsp vegan Parmesan or nutritional yeast.  juice of 1/2 lemon.  1tsp pink salt.  Finely ground black pepper (i love it so I added 1/2 tsp, you may want to show more restraint than me).   Mix well.   You can use a cashew cream instead but I had no cashews handy.

           Getting dressed…

To create the whole ensemble like in the photo, do the following (of course you can plate them in separate dishes to be served at the table)

Place the two Kos lettuce leaves on a plate, criss-cross.  Add some raw cabbage,  then the kale, and a helping of brown rice,  spoon the hot beans over the top and then drizzle over a spoon or two of the dressing.   I also added half an avocado and a sgenerous poon of my divine, hot mama, low fat homemade mustard hummus.

It was, according to my dinner guest, ‘bloody marvelous, luv’ in a Cockney accent’.   I hailed it a success and reminded him he was from Surrey and not born within the sound of Bow Bells.

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