On our next stop on the Culinary Travel Around the World Tour this month, we are stopping off in Italy. Cos they have really good food. Oh yum. Gelato, pasta, pizza…
Who doesn’t like pizza? I certainly do. I absolutely LOVE pizza, yet I know that the standard version is not necessarily the best from a clean eating perspective. Occasionally yes, but on other days, I am very appreciative of other options. And there are a few nowadays, however, this one is one of the easier and most straightforward options in terms of getting ingredients for it and preparing it (I feel anyway). I kept the topping relatively light, but if you want to go wild, use a proper tomato sauce base and put on what you’d usually like to have on it! Most of all, enjoy every single delicious bite of it!
What I like to do with it is prepare the base half a day or a day before and then just add the toppings and put it in the oven to keep prep time down in the evening, when I often want meals quick and without fuss! I am happy to have the polenta pizza with a huge handful of greens (more than the recipe requires) and some sprouts to get the protein content up. Try and see what works for you, I’d be interested to hear so get in touch! J
Italian Polenta Pizza
Dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, vegetarian
Serves 1 hungry person or 2 people as a snack
Ingredients
For the base:
120g fine polenta
400 mL hot water
1 tbsp extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil
½ tsp salt
Some freshly ground pepper
For the toppings:
1 tsp extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil
8 mushrooms, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
50 g Feta cheese (organic, ideally from grass fed sheep)
Rucola, to serve
Directions
- In a sauce pan add the hot water, the coconut oil, salt and pepper and heat on low heat. Then slowly stir in the polenta with a whisk and keep whisking until it starts soaking up more and more water and having a more solid consistency.
- Pour over a baking sheet on a baking tray in a nice round circle and leave to cool down and set (minimum 90 minutes).
- Once the polenta has set, pre-heat the oven to 220°C and prepare the toppings. In a pan over medium heat, melt the coconut oil, then fry the mushrooms until the turn gold, about 8 minutes or so. Add the garlic and fry for another 1-2 minutes, before adding the tomatoes and stir well for 1-2 minutes more. Evenly distribute the toppings onto the polenta pizza.
- Cube the feta cheese and add to the pizza top, then bake the pizza for 15-20 minutes until the cheese turns golden.
- Remove the pizza from the oven, leave to cool down slightly for 5-10 minutes, to help the polenta to set again, then serve the pizza with a generous hand full of rucola or other greens.
Any questions, comments or suggestions? Let me know below or get a discussion on my Facebook group going!
With Vibrant Love,
Bettina x