I’ve wanted to try cauliflower crust pizza for a while but always hedged because I knew it wasn’t going to taste like pizza. But on a recent night I decided I didn’t need pizza, per se, just a round, sliceable, cheesy meal.
There are now a lot of cauli crusts on the market but I realized they’re not all created equal. I noticed Oprah touting her brand’s crust on tv and saying it’s made with 1/3 cauliflower. Great…except something that’s better for you isn’t necessarily good for you. Trader Joe’s, however, isn’t bound with fillers like eggs and cheese. This means that if you were to eat the ENTIRE thing, the crust would only be 480 calories.
Since I’ve never cooked anything like this and had heard horror stories of too crumbly or too soggy crusts, I did a bit of research beforehand. TJ’s suggests baking the crust first: 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes per side. Then put on your toppings and broil for 4-5 minutes just to melt the cheese.
For this “pizza”, I covered my cauliflower crust with pesto and then topped with shredded mozzarella, slices of prosciutto, chopped sautéed mushrooms (leftovers), and grated parmesan. After baking with the toppings, I put on a few leaves of fresh basil.
I expected this to be nothinggg like real pizza, but I was pleasantly surprised. If you have a bite of the crust sans toppings, no, that doesn’t taste like pizza crust. It’s not doughy. It kind of tastes like a grits cake – not bad, just not pizza crust. The part underneath the toppings, however, could almost trick you into believing this was real pizza crust. I was shocked. And also, this topping combo is AMAZE-FACE. As in, get these amazing flavors in my face, now.
Peaches to Apples 