How to make green pizza with quinoa crust, courgette and feta
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Your support makes all the difference.Green pizza
Celebrate Spring with a healthy green pizza. The choice of toppings is up to you – the greener the better!
Ingredients (makes enough for 1 large pizza)
For the pesto
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
60g basil leaves
125-250ml extra virgin olive oil
30g almonds
30g pine nuts
50g parmesan
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the quinoa pizza crust
1 cup white quinoa (soaked overnight in water)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp unfiltered apple cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
For the toppings
1 small courgette, finely sliced
2-3 spring onions, finely sliced
Feta cheese, crumbled
A handful of gherkins, chopped
A handful of fresh peas
1 tbsp capers
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
A handful of pine nuts
A handful of pumpkin seeds
Half an avocado, peeled and shaved with a speed peeler
1 sprig lemon thyme, leaves picked
Zest of half a lemon
Parmesan shavings
To make the pesto
Put the garlic, basil and 125ml of olive oil into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the almonds, pine nuts, parmesan, salt and pepper and pulse until the mixture is chunky, adding more olive oil if you like a runnier texture. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
To make the pizza crust
Soak the quinoa overnight in a large bowl, make sure it is completely covered by water, if you’re uncertain just add a bit more, any excess will be drained off before making the pizza crust.
Preheat your oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
Drain and rinse the quinoa then put into a food processor with the nutritional yeast, vinegar, salt and pepper. Blitz until smooth, it won’t form a dough it will be quite runny, this is the way it should be so don’t worry.
Pour the mixture onto a lipped baking tray lined with a silicone baking mat and cook for 15-20 minutes until firm. Remove from the oven and carefully peel off the baking mat. Flip the crust over and return to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes. If you want a warm pizza don’t let your crust colour too much around the edges at this stage as it will going back in the oven, if you are going to have a raw pizza then let it bake until golden.
To assemble the pizza
Remove the pizza base from the oven and spread a couple of tablespoons of pesto all over, cover with some courgettes, spring onions and feta cheese. Now, simply add the rest of your toppings and enjoy hot or cold.
Follow Beverley Hicks @littlechelseakitchen
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