Cauliflower Crust Pizza with White Sauce

I told you I'd be back soon. And with a killer pizza recipe to boot. So get excited, because this dish is tried and true. Actually, I've made it so many times, I have no idea how it hasn't been on the blog yet. But this is hands down my favorite way to eat starch-less pizza and has become a real staple at our house.

{riced}

{squeezed out}

{pre-baked crust}

Ingredients:
for the crust-
1/2 large head of cauliflower (if your cauli. is on the smaller side, use 3/4)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
2-3 ounces of cheese, shredded (I usually do a mix of mozzarella and parmesan)
salt and pepper, a few pinches of dried oregano and basil
for the white sauce-
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy (or light) cream
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced (depends on how garlicky you like your pizza-this is always an argument at our house)
salt and pepper
top it off-
3-4 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly or shredded (I use low-moisture cheese, because nobody likes soggy pizza)
1 ounce of parmesan, grated from the block
your choice of toppings: a handful of olives, mushrooms, sliced onions, fresh tomatoes, etc. the sky is the limit, really!

Directions:
for the crust-
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. To "rice" the cauliflower, either grate it with a box grater or pulse it in a food processor until it resembles grains of rice. Put the riced cauliflower in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave uncovered until softened, about 6-8 minutes, stirring at least once. Cool slightly.
2. Pour the cauliflower onto a kitchen towel and wring out the excess water from the cauliflower (I wear latex gloves to do this because the cauliflower is hot!). Put the wrung-out cauliflower back into a large bowl and add in the eggs, cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Stir until combined. Spread out the "dough" for the crust onto your lined baking sheet. Try and make it as thin as possible without any holes poking through.
3. Bake about 30 minutes, or until golden/light brown. The darker it gets, the crispier your pizza's crust will be-but keep in mind that you'll be putting it under the broiler later, so you don't want it to turn out burned when you're melting the cheese. (Sometimes I'll flip the crust over and bake it for another 5 minutes, just to make sure that it's thoroughly cooked.) Let cool for 10-15 minutes before you load it up with toppings.
for the white sauce-
4. While the crust bakes, you can prepare your sauce and get your toppings ready. Whisk together the sour cream, heavy cream, garlic, salt and pepper. Keep it in the fridge until you're ready to put your pizza together.
assemble it-
5. Preheat the broiler. Once your crust is golden and has cooled a bit, spread your white sauce evenly over the top, going almost to the edge. Spread the mozzarella across the sauce, then fill in the gaps with your parmesan. Lay out your choice of toppings across the cheese. (And sprinkle some dried oregano on top, if you want that pizzeria feel.) Broil 5-6 minutes, or until cheese is melty and golden in spots. Be careful to watch your pizza closely, because it'll burn quickly under the broiler. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting and serving. If you'd like, you can add some chopped fresh basil and oregano before serving as well.

*And for a recipe for tomato sauce and a variation on the white sauce, check out my first post on starch free pizza here.

{No Starch in My} Pizza

I happened to try out this recipe at the exact point in time when I needed something like this: it's simple to make, relatively quick, infinitely customizable, all of the ingredients can be kept on hand and I was starting a new job and was definitely at a loss for time when it came to cooking. And it's pizza. I mean for realz, who doesn't like pizza?

If you can't eat grains, you have to try this recipe, or even if you're just gluten intolerant or are trying to cut back on complex carbs, you should keep this recipe in your back pocket.

The most time consuming part for me is making the sauce. If you can eat store-bought sauce, that's even more of a time-saver. But we've found that pretty much all store bought tomato based sauces tend to be starchy, so I always make tomato sauce at home from fresh tomatoes. I adapted this pizza recipe from one that I found on this blog. And in this post, I'm including a recipe for basic tomato sauce and a recipe for white sauce, for those times when you don't have any tomatoes on hand, but still want pizza. (That's actually why I developed the white sauce recipe in the first place. Except I realized I didn't have any tomatoes after I had already made the crust.)

{No Starch in My} Pizza
serves 4-6
ingredients for the crust:
8 ounce package of full fat cream cheese (at room temp.)
2 egg whites and 1 whole egg
salt & pepper
garlic powder, dried basil leaves, dried oregano leaves
1/4 shredded Parmesan cheese
ingredients for the pizza:
1/2-3/4 cup tomato sauce*
4 ounces mozzerella cheese, sliced thinly
fresh or dried basil and oregano
your choice of toppings (we love black olives, spinach, tomatoes, etc.)

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9x13 baking dish.
2.) Blend the cream cheese with the eggs until smooth, then mix in dried seasonings to taste.
3.) Add Parmesan cheese and stir until combined, then pour mixture into the baking dish.
4.) Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Let crust cool for 10 minutes before adding sauce, cheese and toppings.
5.) After the crust is done and cooling, raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
6.) Top the crust with sauce, mozzarella cheese and add whichever toppings are your fave. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

Simple Tomato Sauce*
makes 1/2-3/4 cup
2-3 tablespoons butter
4-6 medium tomatoes, chopped (depends on how much sauce you want!)
a small onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt & pepper
basil, oregano (to your liking)

1.) Add butter and onion to a saucepan and saute over medium heat until onion is tender and starting to turn golden in color.
2.) Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the garlic.
3.) Add white wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Add tomatoes and turn up the heat to medium high.
4.) Once the sauce starts boiling, I usually turn the heat back down to medium and let the sauce lightly boil for awhile, so that most of the moisture from the tomatoes can evaporate.
5.) Once the sauce begins to thicken (after 10-15 minutes), add the seasoning to taste. Turn the heat down very low and let the sauce thicken.

**I never really measure anything when I make this sauce, I kind of just throw in what I have available, go on what feels right, and keep tasting it as I go along. It always turns out delicious; this sauce is almost impossible to mess up.

Simple White Sauce for Pizza
makes about 1/2 cup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp dried thyme)
salt and pepper

1.) In a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5-6 minutes, or until translucent. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute longer.
2.) Add cream, lower heat to medium-low and cook for about 5 minutes, or until cream thickens and reduces slightly.
3.) Remove from heat and stir in any seasoning. Let sauce cool before spreading on your pizza.