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Potato, Courgette and Feta Pizza on a Cauliflower Base

This crunchy, cauliflower-base pizza is all about the veg, with the optional addition of fresh greens and a drizzle of pesto after cooking making it even more delicious.

Jun 17, 2019, updated Jun 17, 2019

The recipe comes from Little Green Kitchen: Simple vegetarian family recipes, the fifth cookbook by Stockholm-based couple David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl, authors of vegetarian food blog Green Kitchen Stories. It includes more than 70 recipes said to be created with kids’ palates in mind.

Potato, Courgette and Feta Pizza on a Cauliflower Base

Makes 1 large pizza
Active preparation: 40 minutes
Start to finish: 1 hour 10 minutes

We often talk about pizza as a vessel that we can pile with lots of vegetables and get our kids to eat happily. But if we are to be entirely honest, they usually scooch most of the toppings off, only to be left with little margherita pieces (plain tomato sauce and cheese). Potato pizza is always a hit with our kids, though. Crunchy, carby and without too many weird textures on top. Our favourite thing about it is that it’s so simple. We make it pizza bianca-style, so no sauce needed. We are serving it on a cauliflower base here, which is another smart little veg-boosting trick (the almond flour gives it a sweet flavour). But for an even easier version, you can use Lebanese flatbreads as a base and then it’s ready in no time. Even if we keep it simple for the kids, we add extra greens to our pieces so everyone ends up happy.

Ingredients

1 large (500g) cauliflower head
100g (1 cup) almond flour
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs

Potato topping:
3 medium-sized firm potatoes
1 small courgette (zucchini)
2 tbsp sea salt
4 tbsp olive oil
100g (3/4 cup) feta, crumbled
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tbsp thyme leaves, roughly chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground
Black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F/gas 6) and line a baking tray (pan) with parchment paper.

To make the cauliflower base, coarsely chop the cauliflower (use the brighter part of the stem too), place in a food processor and blend until you have a fine rice-like texture.

Measure 1 litre (4 cups) of the vegetable “rice” and place in a mixing bowl. Add the almond flour, oregano, salt and pepper and mix with your hands. Make a well in the middle and add the eggs. Whisk the eggs with a fork. Use your hands to pull the dry ingredients towards the middle until everything is combined and you can shape it into a ball. It should be more loose and wet than a traditional bread dough. Leave to sit for 10 minutes. Transfer to the prepared baking tray (pan) and shape into a large pizza by flattening the dough with your hands, making the edges slightly higher. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes, or until slightly golden and firm.

Meanwhile, prepare the potato topping. Slice the potatoes and courgette very thinly with a mandoline or a knife. Place the slices in a deep plate, sprinkle them with the salt and cover with cold water for 20 minutes. Drain the water, rinse and pat the potatoes and courgette dry on a tea towel.

Brush the baked cauliflower base with a thin layer of the olive oil. Cover it with half of the feta, then add the potato and courgette slices, onion, thyme and, finally, the remaining feta. Season with salt and black pepper. Drizzle with more of the olive oil and bake for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are golden and the edges are slightly burnt.

Serve immediately.

Adult upgrade: Top the baked pizza with a drizzling of pesto and some baby kale dressed in lemon juice.

A helping hand: A pizza doesn’t have to be round or square, it can look however you want it to. So let the children be in charge of shaping the pizzas. Show how they should flatten out the dough and let them decide whether to make one large or several smaller shapes. Let them also put topping on their own pizza slice.

This is an edited extract from Little Green Kitchen by David Frenkiel & Luise Vindahl published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $39.99 and is available in stores nationally. Photo: © David Frenkiel

 

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