BIRD + CLEAVER

Paleo train! No, we are not on it. But, we did watch it steam in, and then pull right back out of the station. Not on the vegan train either. However, we did take that one for a ride once, but it was not quite as comfortable as we had hoped. This is certainly not to say that there are not benefits to either of these. They are just not for us.

Where are we going with this, you ask? Well, if you pay attention to food you notice trends. Right now in both paleo and vegan food, we are seeing a lot of crusts made from things other than traditional flour and water. Things like cauliflower.

Oooh, cauliflower! We love cauliflower.! You know what goes well with cauliflower? Potatoes! Mmmm, potatoes and cauliflower is a perfect combination. It reminds us of Indian foods, like Aloo Gobi. Oooh, potato pizza, with a cauliflower crust & gingery tomato sauce. Yes!

And another recipe was born. A not quite vegan, not quite something you could forage, but oh so tasty recipe.

• 1 medium sized head of cauliflower, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg
• 2-3 tablespoons of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

for the sauce:

• 1 large tomato
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon, freshly grated ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 tablespoon +1 teaspoon grapeseed oil
• 1/2 cup of water
• 2 green chiles, minced
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
• squeeze of lemon (optional)
• salt tt 

for the potatoes:

•  2 medium potatoes, thinly sliced by hand or mandoline
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons grapeseed oil

for garnish:

• cilantro
• sambal 

Place cauliflower in a pan and cover with enough cool water to cover.  Salt water and bring to a simmer.  Cook until cauliflower is fork tender.  Remove from heat and drain.  Here's where you need to use some muscle power!  Place cauliflower in a tea towel or a ricer and squeeze excess water out.  Work in batches.  After cauliflower is sufficiently squeezed, place in a food processor and pulse until it resembles rice.  Add salt, and the egg and pulse until combined. Add 3 tablespoons of flour and pulse until mixture just comes together.

Place pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.

Meanwhile, place potatoes in bowl of cold water to remove starch. Replace several times until water is clear. Drain.  Mix with salt and oil and set aside.

Make the sauce.  Heat tablespoon of oil in pan, over medium low heat. Add onions and cook until lightly golden, about 5 minutes.  Add tomato, ginger and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add 1/2 cup water, turmeric and garam masala, chiles and cayenne, if using. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat.  Cook mixture down until it's the consistency of a thick pizza sauce. Add squeeze of lemon to finish.

Make the pizzas.  On a parchment sheet, spread cauliflower mixture thinly into the desired shape / size that you would like.  These work better as smaller pizzas, I would avoid going bigger than a 7 inch diameter.  Par bake until crust is starting to get crispy and is golden. Remove from oven and spread with sauce and top with potatoes.  Continue to cook until crust is completely cooked and dark golden brown.  If your potatoes aren't browned enough for your liking, pop it in the broiler for a few minutes to finish.  Enjoy!