EAT: Cauliflower Puree Pizza

Meatless Monday recipe…cauliflower is the new kale. We eat at least one bunch of it a week – usually as cauliflower buffalo wings (check out recipes here and here), or roasted and put into a bowl with quinoa and baked tofu. I have been trying to master a curried cauliflower soup (inspired by a bowl we had at True Food a few months ago) for the last few months, but so far, I would rate my attempts a solid B.

Right now, my favorite pizza is at the The Rose Wine Pub,  a few blocks from our house. We love the cozy atmosphere of the Rose, and we love the pizza with a salad on top, so delicious. We make a lot of vegan pizza – our favorites include variations on BBQ Pizza, Tofu “Ricotta” Pizza, and Soyrizo Pizza. Inspired by our favorite pizza at The Rose, and the three heads of cauliflower I had in the fridge, I made the following for dinner tonight…

• Pizza Dough – Trader Joe’s or your favorite recipe

• 1 head of cauliflower, cut up
• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (or parmesan cheese, if that is your preference)
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt +Pepper

• 2 big handfuls of kale, julienned
• 1 lemon
• 1 TB of olive oil (I like to use the garlic infused olive oil from Trader Joe’s)
• Couple of shakes of red pepper and Salt +Pepper

Preheat oven to 450.

Steam the cut-up cauliflower for ~7 minutes until it is fork-tender. Puree the cauliflower, almond milk, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, s+p in a food processor, vitamix, blender, or with an immersion blender.

While the cauliflower cooks, make the kale salad. Mix the lemon, olive oil, and S+P, then add the kale and massage it for a minute or two.

Spread the dough on a baking sheet (I usually spray the sheet with oil first), spread the puree on top, and bake for about 12-14 minutes. Take it out of the oven when the crust is done and the puree is getting brown and a little bubbly. After it comes out of the oven, top it with the kale salad.

I am thinking of ways that I could improve this – cashews in the cauliflower puree, adding pine nuts or sundried tomatoes to the kale…it is a yummy, healthy meal and I’ll keep playing with this basic, satisfying recipe.