Everyone loves pizza, but it definitely can be unhealthy. Here are some vegetarian pizza recipes that put the healthy back into pizza.
We love pizza in all its various forms, but our favorite is the paper thin crust, wood burning oven variety. We purchased a Mario Batali cast iron pizza pan so that we could replicate that wood fired effect, but you can do the same using a pizza stone, or some people make a mini pizza oven using bricks in their BBQ (note: we have never tried this).
Lets start with the most classic vegetarian pizza, Pizza Margherita. It was created in 1889 in Naples and named after Queen Margherita Teresa Giovanni.
Pizza Margherita
The traditional pizza has a white flour crust, crushed tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil.
We have made this recipe healthier by substituting traditional white flour pizza dough with whole wheat pizza dough. Fortunately we are able to buy the dough ready made at our local grocer, but there are many whole wheat pizza dough recipes available online.
Pizza Margherita
Ingredients:
1/2 pre-made Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (8 oz)
1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes drained (we like San Marzano tomatoes if you can find them)
4 ounces of fresh Mozzarella, drained and sliced thinly *
10 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Take out dough and put on a plate with flour and bring almost to room temperature.
Strain crushed tomatoes (reserve and refrigerate excess tomato juice for other recipes).
Roll out dough as thin as possible. We like to use a pizza paddle to place the pizza onto the stone or pan. Cover the pizza paddle with cornmeal, then place the rolled out crust onto the paddle. Quickly distribute the crushed tomato over the crust, followed by the sliced fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle with dried herbs such as oregano and basil if desired. Carefully shimmy the dressed pizza onto the pizza stone or pan.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Take out with paddle and put on cutting board. Sprinkle fresh basil over the top, slice and serve.
Heirloom tomato, grilled onion, and goat cheese vegetarian pizza recipe
Heirloom Tomatoes
This recipe was inspired by one of our favorite restaurants, which unfortunately is no longer around (hate when that happens). When this vegetarian pizza first arrived at the table with odds and ends of not very photogenic heirloom tomato scattered haphazardly around the surface we were skeptical… until the first bite… and then we were sold. Here is our replication of that delicious seasonal pizza.
Again we are using whole wheat pizza dough to make this dish more healthy.
1/2 pre-made Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (8 oz)
2 large or 3 small heirloom tomatoes
3 ounces of goat cheese*
1 sweet onion, carmelized
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest we had to wait every year until the Walla Walla sweet onions were in season, otherwise all we had around was the typical acidic yellow onion. Heirloom tomatoes were unknown to us. We either bought the mealy yellow centered tomatoes sold at the grocery store, or tried our hand at growing “early girls” in containers on our decks, if the slugs didn’t get to them first.
Sweet onions are now more readily available all across the country. Still some argue that the Vidalia is better than the Walla Walla, and vice versa — I’m not going to tell you which side I’m on. Even in the winter we are able to get Mayan Sweet (from Mexico), and the Oso Sweet (from Chile), and who doesn’t like a Maui Sweet onion? And in the fall heirloom tomatoes are prolific at our local farmers market, and sometimes even at the grocery.
To caramelize your onions, slice the onion very thin. Heat up one teaspoon of canola oil with one teaspoon of butter. Add the thinly sliced onion and saute at a very low heat, turn the onion frequently, until a toasty brown color (but not black). No added sugar is needed due to the high levels of sugar in the sweet onions.
Heat oven to 450 degrees, with pizza pan or pizza stone in the oven.
Bring dough up to almost room temperature on a floured dish.
Roll pizza dough into a thin crust. Place on corn meal covered pizza paddle and dress quickly with caramelized onion, fresh thinly sliced heirloom tomato, and dot with the goat cheese. We also like a sprinkle of dried oregano and basil.
Shimmy the prepared pizza from the paddle onto the stone or pan.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Take out with paddle and put on cutting board. Delicious! Autumn on a plate.
Low carb vegetarian pizza crust
Cauliflower the surprise ingredient.
As we all know there are millions of low carb diets out there. We’ve found this is an easy diet for us to follow because the rules are simple. And lets face it, 2 slices of bread usually equals around 200 calories, and if you can cut that out of one or two meals a day a week, you are going to lose weight.
Because we love pizza so much, we thought we would try out a low carbohydrate vegetable pizza crust recipe, and you know what? It’s pretty good. No it won’t replace that delicious crisp crust you get with flour, but if you are looking for a low carbohydrate, healthy vehicle for your pizza toppings this will do the trick.
Pizza Crust Ingredients:
1 cup of cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup grated Mozzarella Cheese*
1 egg beaten
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Cut up cauliflower and then rice it, using a hand grater or food processor. Cook cauliflower in the microwave for 3-4 minutes without any water. Let cool. Combine with grated mozzarella and egg. You can add whatever spices you like, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Spread onto baking sheet or pizza pan (we used our beloved Mario Batali cast iron pan). You should get about a nine inch round crust from this recipe, but trust me, it is very filling.
Bake in oven for 13 to 15 minutes until it starts to brown.
Add your favorite pizza toppings, and then pop under the broiler for a few minutes. Because there is already cheese in the crust, add additional cheese sparingly, or skip it altogether.
Sauteed mushrooms, grilled red peppers, artichokes, olives and fresh tomatoes are great toppings to this low carbohydrate healthy pizza. And if you are meat eater, you can always add your favorite lean meats, like chicken sausage, ham, or prosciutto.
* As most vegetarians know, some cheeses are made with rennet, which is extracted from calf stomach, which isn’t very vegetarian. There are quite a few cheese producers who make cheese without using rennet. Just make sure you check and see if the cheese you are using is rennet free if you are a practicing vegetarian.
Pizza Margherita Image Flickr: stu_spivack
Heirloom Tomato Image Flickr: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML
Cauliflower Image Flickr: clayirving
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