The Call of the Cauliflower, Part 4: Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Now this here, this is the piece de resistance. I've saved the best for last: cauliflower pizza crust. Words simply cannot describe the awesomeness of it - you really do have to make it and taste it and marvel at it to believe it. It's a stellar stand-in for pizza dough - as improbable as it may sounds. But I swear on all that is holy, this crust will knock your socks off.

Again - I have proof. We had out-of-town guests visiting for the weekend, and we celebrated with a homemade pizza party. Since my diet is on double-secret probation, and refined sugars are out (especially if they come in the form of pizza crust), I pulled this recipe out of my back pocket so that I could partake in the festivities as well. Lo and behold, of the four pizzas I made (two with this cauliflower crust, two with a cornmeal crust) - which do you think were the first to go? That's right - the cauliflower crusted pizzas vanished quicker than their traditional counterparts. Everyone loved them. Love love loved them. With a capital L. And that goes for Randall as well, my aforementioned cauliflower-loathing DH.

Now, I'm a pretty imaginative cook, but there's no way I can take credit for this idea. I'd actually seen this recipe online months ago (I tweaked mine slightly), and have been dying to try it ever since. The opportunity just had never presented itself. But after today, I can tell you that this dish will be in permanent rotation at my house. It takes a couple of steps, but baby, when it's pizza that you want, this totally fills the bill. It's worth every single step.


Cauliflower Pizza Crust

• 1/4 of a head of cauliflower, steamed until fork-tender, then chopped fine (you can also use the fake rice method); you'll need a yield of 1 cup of loosely packed, finely chopped/grated cauliflower
• 1/2 cup low-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• Salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Spread onto a baking sheet that has been generously sprayed with cooking spray (you could also grease the pan with olive oil or butter if you're averse to cooking spray). Use a spatula to form the mixture into a circle. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until edges are nice and crispy (and I mean nice and crispy - they'll be very brown, almost burned). Remove from the oven and top with your favorite toppings*; change the oven from bake to broil. Broil the toppings until cooked through and the cheese is melted.

*The toppings for our cauliflower pizzas were: Pizza #1 - tomato sauce, fresh heirloom tomato slices, spinach, mushrooms, low-fat mozzarella cheese; Pizza #2 - tomato sauce, mushrooms, red bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, low-fat mozzarella cheese.