Cauliflower Crust Pizzettes

All things cauliflower crust friends!
Yep, after the cheese pizza, pizza marinara and the worldwide famous calzones it was only a matter of time before I’d come up with something new using cauliflower crust.
This time around is mini pizzas or pizzettes. Basically finger food. Two words: Amaze-balls.
Which is in fact one word (or maybe it’s not even a word), but I like to use the hyphen and think of it as two words. It adds emphasis and drama which is what I’m trying to convey here.


Now picture this, football game on TV, friends, beers and cauliflower crust pizzettes as a snack.
Your buddies are loving them, which allows you to drop da bomb “Do you know that they’re actually made with cauliflower?”
Wait, what?
Amazement, confusion, admiration, astonishment, awe, bewilderment, confusion, perplexity, wonderment. All these emotions registering on your friends’ face.
Or maybe not.
Maybe they'll just say “Dude they’re pretty awesome” and they’ll just continue watching the football game, devouring the pizzettes.
Which is really all the validation you need.
Because let’s not forget that actions are worth a thousand words, and no leftovers means that you have succeeded. Score.


Cauliflower Crust Pizzettes                                                                                    Print this recipe!

I know some of you struggle with cauliflower crust. This recipe works, I promise. But you have to squeeze the bejesus out of the cooked cauliflower rice. That’s the only way to do it.
When it comes to toppings, do play around. Whatever you like on a pizza you can put on pizzettes.

Ingredients
Makes 12 to 15 pizzettes

Crust

1 small head cauliflower, cut into small florets (should yield about 3 cups once processed)
½ cup / 1.7 oz / 50 gr mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 free-range organic egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Topping

Shredded mozzarella cheese
Tomato slices
Fresh basil leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°F (220°C) and place a rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease liberally with olive oil.
In a food processor rice the cauliflower (it should be evenly chopped but not completely pulverized). Transfer to a microwave dish and microwave on high for 8 minutes, until cooked.
Place the cauliflower rice in a tea towel and twist it to squeeze out as much moisture as you can (I squeezed out more than 1 cup of liquid). This is very important. The cauliflower rice needs to be dry. Otherwise you’ll end up with a mushy dough, not a crusty one.
Transfer the cauliflower rice to a mixing bowl and add egg, mozzarella, oregano, sea salt and pepper. Mix well.
Scoop one tablespoon of cauliflower mixture and drop onto the baking sheet. Pat into a thin round circle about 2-inches wide. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
Bake in the oven for 12 to 13 minutes until golden, the edges of the pizzettes might be a bit charred.
Remove sheet from the oven and heat the broiler. Top each pizzette with a large pinch of shredded mozzarella, a tomato slice and sprinkle with a bit of salt.
Broil until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes are slightly roasted, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition facts

One pizzetta yields 41.5 calories, 2.3 grams of fat, 2 grams of carbs and 5.8 grams of protein