A Grainless Dream Come True: Cauliflower Pizza with Sweet Potatoes and Kale

Prepare yourself, friends-- what follows is simply dripping Swagu. (If you don't know...you don't know.)

Look at that puppy!

Let me break this pizza down for you: a cauliflower/cheese crust covered in smoky marinara sauce, balsamic kale, sweet potato "fries" and then some MORE damn cheese.  Is this a joke? No. But is sure as shootin is delicious.

Several months ago, I gave up a group of foods I loosely refer to as "grains"-- no flour, rice, quinoa, couscous, bulgur, wheatberry, etc.  I will give you the full scoop another day, but since that day in June I have been pretty-much grain-free and feel GREAT about it.  But the one thing I was missing big time was pizza... and then I found out about the "doughless pizza." Prepare to be amazed!

The last time we worked with cauliflower I gave you ChefKefi's Food Philosophy #1: Healthy food does not have to be hard. Today brings you CKFP #2: A little prep work goes a long way.  It ain't a quick recipe, but it is easy. I like to make this on Sundays and try to pretend it will last til Monday.



Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into thin rounds, about 1/4-inch thick
• 1/2 bunch of kale, cleaned and stemmed
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS balamic vinegar
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1-2 eggs, beaten
• 16 oz of cheese of your choice (I used mozzarella.)
• Fresh herbs, as desired (I had some thyme left over and used about 2 TBS in the crust)
• Tomato sauce of your choice (I used my favorite: smokey marinara )

Assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Toss sweet potato rounds with olive oil and arrange on greased baking sheet in a single layer (you may need to do two batches). They can touch, but they should  not be on top of one another.  Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes, flipping once. They should be soft and tender but not mushy when they're done.

2. Toss kale in balsamic vinegar. Set aside.


3. Chop off the "tree" parts of the cauliflower from the stem. Put them in a big pot with enough water to cover them.  Bring to a boil, remove from heat.  


4. "Rice" the cauliflower in a food processor-- this means to blend it until it is mashed but not really pureed.  Transfer the puree to a strainer and push out any excess water.

5. Re-preheat oven to 450. Mix 1 c cheese, whatever herbs you want, and a beaten egg into the cauliflower until it takes on a batter-like consistency.  If you want it to be a little more congealed, you can add another egg (although I find that this makes it taste a little too omlette-y for my pizza palate).


6. On a greased cookie sheet or pizza stone (if you are a fan of that parchment-on-one-side, aluminum-on-the-other stuff, that would be great too) spread out the batter to make your pizza base. It should be spread to where you can't see through it but that it is not a lump o' cauliflower, either.

7. Bake "dough" for about 15 minutes.  For a crispier crust, cook longer.


8. When dough is how you'd like it, put on however much sauce you like (just remember that this dough is already a little more water-based than a flour one, so I'd go on the light side).  Then arrange prepared sweet potatoes and kale however you'd like them, THEN add the other 1c of cheese (or more, or less...however you like it!).  

9. Put the prepared pizza BACK in the oven on the highest shelf for about 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.


This is filling, so there is enough for at least three people. I, however, think that anything plant based means I can eat it in its entirety, so I usually eat half for Sunday lunch and the other half for Sunday dinner.