When I first when vegan, detoxing from cheese was a big deal. I grew up on cheese - some of my favorite foods involved cheese at the very core. Pizza was one of those foods, and especially with kids in the house, pizza is still on rotation. So, I have tried to reinvent pizza a LOT. The good news? Pizza is still on rotation and vegan diets have so.many.options. Turns out, cheese doesn't even need to be a consideration for many pizza fusions.
A sustainable kitchen minimizes processed food, and so I'm happy to utilize zero faux (or real) cheese in order to create this delicious and flavorful meal. Did you know that dairy cheese takes considerable energy (and carbon footprint) through the whole process? Specifically, methane is created (because most dairy in the U.S. comes from cows or sheep) and it takes 10 lbs. of milk to produce just 1 lb. of cheese; that's a lot of cows and sheep needed to keep up with our consumption of these products. While non-dairy cheese has a lower emissions (mostly from nuts) footprint, the amount of water to grow a nut (1 gallon of water to grow a single almond) is high. So, eliminating any kind of cheese (real or faux) is better for my overall contributions for sustainability from an emission and water consumption standpoint.
Please don't be daunted by the number of ingredients - I have a "game plan" that will limit the amount of time you are making this pizza and save food waste! Most (over 50%) of the below, you likely already have on hand in the pantry or via other recipes for the week. For all you home cooks cutting down on eating out, restaurant foods are about building flavors; layering so that your taste buds get salt, sweet, sour, and umami. Any recipe (like this one!) that gives you all of the flavors will have you loving what you eat (yay for science)! The more you eat at home, the better for the planet. So, come on home cooks - let's do this!
Ingredients:
1 pizza crust (preferably thin crust & wheat) - as noted above, I use Fleischmann's Pizza Crust and the recipe on the back of their packets with subbing half of the all purpose flour with whole wheat
Pan Roasted Vegetables:
1 tbsp avocado oil
1/2 cup chopped zucchini (not peeled)
1 cup coarsely chopped oyster mushrooms (you want texture)
1 cup diced eggplant (not peeled) - note, I don't "sweat" my eggplant here, so you need to cut it smaller than the zucchini to brown and soften in the same amount of time as the other vegetables
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
Spicy Almond Sauce
1/3 cup natural almond butter - Member's Mark (Sam's Club) has a great option
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4-5 garlic cloves (chopped)
2 tsp agave nectar
1 tbsp chile-garlic sauce (or sriracha)
pinch of salt (to taste)
1 lime juiced
Pickled Cilantro Slaw
1/2 large carrot peeled into ribbons
1/2 large cucumber peeled into ribbons
2-3 large radishes thinly sliced (handheld mandoline works well here - setting 2)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1-2 tsp agave nectar (to taste)
1/4 tsp salt
1 large handful fresh cilantro coarsely chopped - use the stems too; no need to waste!
Directions:
If you are using store bought pizza crust, roll it out, put it on a pizza pan, and preheat your oven according to your pizza crust directions. Proceed to Step 1. below
If you are making your pizza crust, don't preheat your oven yet (save the energy!) - make your crust and roll it out on a pizza pan. Now, preheat your oven according to crust directions and proceed to Step 1. below.
Heat a medium (preferably cast iron) pan over medium-high heat; add avocado oil and when it shimmers add zucchini, eggplant and mushrooms. Stir infrequently until browned and softened (~10 min); then finish with the 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tbsp tamari - stir and heat through (about 1 more min). Set aside to cool slightly.
In the meantime, make your spicy almond sauce. Add all ingredients to a personal blender (Hamilton Beach makes an affordable one that I blitz all my sauces and dressings in!); blitz until smooth. Spread all of your sauce evenly over the prepared pizza crust.
Once your pan-roasted veggies are done, top your crust and pop it into the oven for ~15-18 min (again, as per pizza crust direction recommendations - start on the low side, you can always add more time).
While your pizza is baking, make your pickled slaw. Add all ingredients to a medium sized bowl and massage together with your hands. Let rest while your crust bakes.
Once your pizza is done, top with the slaw; cut into squares (as I did) or triangles (up to you) and serve immediately!
If you liked this recipe, I'd love to hear how it turned out for you!
With love & hope for a better future for all of us - Jamie
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