Chicken and Mushroom Pizza

Gluten-free | No added fat or oil |  Sugar-free 

Makes 1 pizza to serve 2

Why it's delicious

I love pizza. I used to own a pub that served pizzas and one of my first jobs as a chef was in an Italian restaurant that specialised in pizza. In saying that, this pizza is unrecognisable to the pizza that I grew up cooking, but its inclusion on my dinner table was to the delight of everyone around! 

Hints, Tips + Tricks 

This recipe requires Bridget's Sticky Sauce, a healthy cooking sauce I use in many of my recipes. It's simple, healthy and packs a lot of flavour without adding unnecessary calories. If you need the recipe, you can get it here.

Ingredients

Roasted tomato sauce

• 300 g ripe tomatoes, core removed and sliced in half
• 3 tsp Bridget's Sticky Sauce 
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp Himalayan salt
• 1 tsp finely ground black pepper
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Broccoli and Cauliflower pizza crust

• 300 g broccoli florets, roughly chopped
• 300 g cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp pure garlic powder
• 1 tsp Himalayan salt
• ½ tsp finely ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp nutritional (savoury) yeast, optional
• 2 tsp pure porcini powder, optional

Pizza toppings

• 1 cup, sliced button mushrooms
• 200 g (7 oz) cooked shredded chicken breast
• 1 tbsp  nutritional (savoury) yeast, optional
• Small handful baby spinach leaves
• 1 tbsp Bridget’s Mavo dressing, watered with 2 tsp of water 

Method 

1. For the roasted tomato sauce, preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Place the tomatoes, cut side facing up in a small baking paper lined roasting tray. Drizzle over the sticky sauce and sprinkle the tomatoes with the cumin, garam masala, Himalayan salt and black pepper followed by the fresh thyme leaves. 
2. Pop the tomatoes in the oven and roast for 40 minutes or until the tomatoes are dark golden  brown and well cooked. Place the hot tomatoes into a blender or small food processor and blend until thick and smooth. Taste the sauce for flavour, adding more salt and pepper if required. 
3. For the pizza base, blend the broccoli and cauliflower in a food processor until it resembles fine rice. Place into a microwavable bowl and cook on high for 4 minutes. 
4. Allow the cauli and broccoli to cool for 10-15 minutes and then place the vegetable rice in a clean tea towel and draw the ends of the tea towel together and begin to squeeze the vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible. 
5. Place the squeezed vegetables back into a bowl and mix in the eggs, garlic powder, salt and pepper and if using, the nutritional yeast and porcini powder. Stir to combine. 
6. Line a large baking sheet or pizza stone with non-stick baking paper and spoon the mixed vegetables on to the paper and fashion into an even round pizza shape about 1 cm or ¾ inch thick.
7. Bake the crust in the oven at 180C (350F) for 20 minutes or until cooked and firm and a little brown on the edges. 
8. Remove the crust from the oven, turn the oven up to 200C (390F) and top the pizza crust with the mushrooms, chicken and if using, nutritional yeast. 
9. Place the pizza back into the oven for a further 5-7 minutes and then remove the pizza from the oven and finish with the spinach leaves and a good drizzle of the Mavo dressing. Season with a little salt and pepper and slice into 8 even pieces before serving.