Cauliflower Crusted Pizza

I made pizza for dinner tonight, and I'm posting two recipes - one for a nightshade-free 'tomato' sauce and one for a grain-free pizza crust.  As I began looking for recipes I can eat, I discovered the recipes for folks on a Paleo diet often are okay for me.  In fact it's often easier to find an appropriate Paleo recipe than a Vegan or vegetarian one.  I want to move closer to a plant-based diet, but I am not there yet.  The Cauliflower Crusted Pizza recipe is adapted from a Paleo cookbook, Cooking With Coconut Oil, by Elizabeth Nyland.  It can be vegetarian, depending on toppings.

Definitely an eat-it-with-a-fork pizza, but very yummy.

INGREDIENTS

for the crust:

1 large head cauliflower, cut into chunks

2 eggs

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp dried oregano

2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

1/2 tsp sea salt

Nutrition information for crust only: per 1/6 of pizza crust = 105.5 calories, 6.8 g fat, 65.1 mg cholesterol, 96.3 mg sodium, 8.2 g carbs, 3.9 g fiber, 5.4 g protein

for the topping:  (whatever you want - this is what I used)

No tomato sauce

6-8 mushrooms, sliced and sautéed

1 onion, sliced in half-moons and carmelized

Turkey pepperoni

Broccoli and asparagus cut into chunks and briefly steamed

1 1/2 cups goats-milk mozzarella cheese, grated

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a large pizza pan with aluminum foil.  Rub some coconut oil over it and set aside.

Steam cauliflower about 5 minutes.  Place cauliflower into food processor.  Process until large chunks are gone. Let cool until can handle.  Squeeze handfuls of the cauliflower, removing as much liquid as possible.  The more liquid you can get out, the crisper the crust will be.

Mix the cauliflower with the eggs, yeast, oregano, coconut oil, and salt.  Pat it onto the greased sheet of aluminum in a circular shape.  Bake in preheated oven 35-45 minutes, or until the crust is golden on the edges and completely cooked right through the center. 

While the crust is baking, steam the asparagus and broccoli about 5 minutes.  Rinse in cold water to stop cooking.  Sauté the mushrooms.  Carmelize the onions.

Remove from the oven and add your toppings.  Spread the sauce onto the crust.  Evenly distribute toppings being used.  Sprinkle cheese over whole pizza and return to the 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.