Hummus and Veggie Pizza with a Potato Crust

     Summer in Minnesota (especially July) is a great time for vegetables.  Gardens are overflowing with bright, fat peppers, zucchinis and cucumbers of all shapes and sizes, and tomatoes galore.  One of my go-to foods in the summer is roasted (or grilled) vegetables.  With my mind still reeling about what to make for my family that didn't contain gluten, wheat, meat, etc., I was thinking about these vegetables.  I wanted to incorporate them into a pizza, and roasting them and serving them with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar is delicious.  I just needed to work on the "crust".  Last week's crusts were okay, but the texture was all wrong.  

     Over the weekend, Jeff had made a giant platter of hashbrowns for us for breakfast.  He used the dehydrated hash browns purchased at Costco.  They come in a milk carton sort of thing that you open up an pour hot water into to rehydrate the potatoes.  It sounds weird, and I laughed when my mom had given us a package of these.  I thought that these sounded like something you would eat only out of desparation or when camping, because potatoes are too heavy to lug around.  But, I have to admit, with a little seasoning, these make delicious, crunchy hash browns.  Since one of lasts week's crusts was made with potatoes, it got me thinking that maybe I could incorporate hash browns as a "crust", so I gave it a shot.

Hummus and Roasted Vegetable Pizza with a Potato Crust

Crust:
1 4.9oz box of shredded, dehydrated hash browns
1 teaspoon of seasoning salt (I used Lawry's)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Hummus:
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained with some liquid reserved
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove of raw garlic
3 cloves of roasted garlic
½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Veggies:
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into large pieces
½ of a large red onion, cut into large wedges
3-4 mini cucumbers, chunked up
8oz mini portabella mushrooms
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup balsamic vinegar

Crust:  Preheat the oven to 500º F with a pizza stone inside.  Rehydrate the potatoes as instructed on the side of the box (open carton and pour boiling or near-boiling water in up to the fill line; close carton and let sit for 12 minutes or so or until most of the water has been absorbed by the potatoes).  Drain the potatoes and pat dry with a paper towel.  Toss the potatoes with the olive oil and pat onto preheated pizza stone in a flat, even layer.  Bake at 500º until they brown.

Hummus:  Meanwhile, make the hummus.  Load all of the hummus ingredients into a food processor or blender and process until smooth.  Add some of the reserved chickpea liquid, if needed, to achieve a smooth, fluffy texture.

Veggies:  Toss the vegetables with the soy sauce, cumin, and a tablespoon of olive oil.  Spread in a single layer on a jelly roll pan.  Broil the vegetables on high until some charring occurs.  Remove from oven.
While the vegetables are roasting, pour the balsamic vinegar into a small sauce pan.  Cook over medium heat until reduced by half.

Assembly:  Once potatoes are browned, remove stone with the potatoes on it from the oven.  Spread the hummus mixture over the potatoes.  Top with the grilled vegetables.  Return the pizza and stone to the oven for a few minutes to heat the hummus and the rested vegetables. Drizzle balsamic reduction over the vegetables. Serve immediately.


     I started with the vegetables, since they would take the longest, and they were the star of the show.  I used what I had on hand.  I originally wanted to have zucchini in the dish, but our zucchini failed this year.  There was some strange bug that promoted a sort of rot on all of its fruits, so I went with the cucumber option.  I had never roasted cucumbers before, but how different could they be from zucchini once roasted?  And, the ones that I had were cute little ones, that could easily be cut into roastable pieces.
     I took a giant yellow bell pepper and hacked it into large, squarish pieces.  The onion, I cut into rough chunks as well.  I left the mini portabellas whole for the most part.  I halved the larger ones just to try and get their size to match the rest.  I placed them all into a large bowl and tossed them with soy sauce, cumin, and olive oil, so they were all coated nicely.  I spread them into an even layer on a sheet pan and broiled them until some of the pieces started to char and bubble.
    To differenciate this from just a hash of sorts, I thought it needed a sauce.  The usual combination for pizza is crust, sauce, toppings, and cheese, right?  And, since we were forgoing the cheese, I didn't want to forgo any of the other elements.  My sisters and I all love hummus, and it goes very well with vegetables, so I thought this would make a good "sauce" for my pizza.  I chose a double garlic recipe that I had made before and really enjoyed.  The creamy nuttiness of roasted garlic is accented by a small amount of raw garlic, making it zingy and delicious.
     When my hash browns were done, I pulled the stone out of the oven.  I started to attempt to remove the hash browns in one cohesive unit onto a serving dish, but there really wasn't any cohesion.  If I had added an egg, there might have been, but eggs were not allowed on the Daniel Fast.  Had I been thinking, I would have remembered that last week, I substituted flax and water to mimick an egg.  That may have worked here.  I left the hash browns on the stone and built my pizza there.
     It was a little tricky spreading the hummus over the non-cohesive potatoes, but I just plopped spoonfuls over the hash browns and spread them gently with the back of a spoon until the "crust" was mostly covered.  

     Next came the vegetables and the reduced balsamic vinegar.  It was really pretty with the yellow pepper, red onions, and green cucumbers.

     The flavor of the pizza was wonderful.  The balsamic was tangy and a little sweet, the vegetables crisp and toasty, the hummus smooth and zippy.  The hash browns even stayed crispy despite the vegetables and hummus on top of them.  The serving of the pizza wasn't easy, and it didn't resemble pizza at all when it hit the plate, but it was delicious.  
     Jennifer apparently had the same frame of mind as I did, because she brought with her a pizza topped with roasted vegetables!

   

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Veggie Pizza Two Ways

     I gave myself a little bit of a challenge this week.  Jeff has been working on the floor in our kitchen and dining room, and rather than clear out all of the boards he had laid out on the dinner table and putting his tools back in the garage, we had been having pizza night at Jennifer's.  However, for the month of July, she has been on the Daniel Fast (http://danielfast.wordpress.com/daniel-fast-food-list/), which means, no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no sugar, no gluten, and no alcohol (among other things).  I felt a little guilty bringing over two meaty pizzas last week, when she couldn't eat any of them.  Also, I didn't think it would harm any of us to go vegan (and more) for one meal.
     I had been thinking about what I could make that Jennifer could eat since the previous Thursday.  I spent an afternoon with my friend Debi, and we talked about the possibilities.  We threw some ideas around, but nothing had really set in my brain.  I did some Google-ing during the week and found a few recipes, but most of them contained some really bizarre ingredients that I had only heard of in passing, and I was doubtful that I would be able to find them without going to Whole Foods (or, Whole Paycheck, as Jeff and I call it), and I really didn't want to go there.  Nor did I want to buy a whole bunch of weird ingredients that I would probably only use a little bit of and then have it sit around my kitchen until it went bad or I threw it away.            Eventually, I found a potato crust, but it used egg whites...  More Google-ing turned up an egg-white substitute - flax and water.  As I was contemplating this recipe, I received an e-mail from Debi - she had found an entire pizza recipe that fit most of the criteria.
  I had many of the ingredients (or at least ingredients I could sub in), and those ingredients I didn't have weren't so far out of my scope that I may never use them, so I figured I would give it a shot.

     Since I normally make two pizzas, I was debating about making one more kid- and husband-friendly, but then I thought if I did so, they wouldn't even try the vegan pizza, and the new experience would be lost on them.  Since I had two workable recipes I decided to go whole hog and do both (although, I did fear that I wouldn't be able to provide any more pizzas Jen could eat for the rest of the month, if I used both recipes on the first night out).
     I started with Debi's recipe, which came from a blog she had found:  /http://cleangreensimple.com/2011/03/vegan-gluten-free-pizza/.  On Wednesday, I began with the crust.  I had quite a bit of difficulty with it, but part of the problem may have been my substitutions.

VEGGIE PIZZA #1

(Adapted from cleangreensimple.com)

Crust:

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon agave nectar

2 cups quinoa flour

1¼ chickpea flour

4 tablespoons ground flaxseed

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground oregano

½ teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Sauce:

2 medium tomatoes (about 9 ounces), diced small, seeds removed

¼ teaspoon ground oregano

¼ teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons minced garlic

Toppings:

½ of a red onion (cut into big hunks - I did wedges)

1 red bell pepper, cut into large pieces

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large (or four medium to small) mushrooms, sliced

¼ cup frozen corn

"Cheese":

1½ cups water

¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes

¼ cup chickpea flour

2 tablespoons Tahini paste

2 tablespoons corn starch

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon minced garlic

3/4 teaspoon salt

Make the dough:  In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water and agave nectar and set aside for at least five minutes.  It should get foamy on top. In the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flours, flax seed, salt, oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes.  Stir at a low speed until these ingredients are combined.  Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture and apple cider vinegar.  Run the mixer at a medium speed until the dough comes together, adding additional flour (either type), one tablespoon at a time, as necessary to transform the mixture into dough.  It will still be pretty soft and sticky.  Place in a greased bowl, cover lightly, and set aside to rise.

Make the sauce:  In a small bowl, combine all of the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Prepare the toppings:   Preheat the oven on a high broil.  In a medium bowl, combine the onion and bell pepper chunks.  Add the soy sauce, garlic powder, basil, cumin, and olive.  Toss well to coat the vegetables.  Spread the vegetables in one layer on a jelly roll pan.  Broil on high for about ten minutes, or until there is a slight charring on most of the pieces.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool somewhat.

Make the "cheese":  While the veggies are broiling, place all of the "cheese" ingredients in a blender and process until completely smooth.  Transfer to a small sauce pan.  Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until thick and smooth.  This should only take a few minutes, so don't walk away!

The assembly:  Preheat the oven to 450º.  Pat the dough into a 15 inch deep dish pizza pan with your hands, pushing the dough up the sides as well.  Try to get it as thin as possible without leaving holes.  Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until the crust browns a little.  Remove from the oven.  Spread the sauce over the pre-baked crust. Layer the broiled vegetables over the sauce.  Scatter the mushroom slices over the broiled vegetables, and sprinkle the corn over the mushrooms.  Dollop the "cheese" over the toppings, using the back of a spoon to push/spread the "cheese" over the toppings.  Bake at 450º for 10-15 minutes or until the "cheese" begins to brown.  Allow to cool for at least five minutes.  Slice and serve.

     I had my doubts about this recipe.  I love cheese.  Real cheese.  I could never get used to the plasticene feel and flavor of fat free cheeses, and low-fat cheeses have never thrilled me either, and I thought I would truly miss cheese on a pizza.  Sure, we have had pizzas before that didn't have any cheese, and they were good.  But to pass some non-dairy item off as "cheese" on a pizza seemed a little bit like sacrilege. 

Par Baked Gluten-Free Crust

Raw Gluten-Free Dough Pressed into a Deep Dish Pan

     This really wasn't bad, though.  I know, that isn't a resounding endorsement, but I think with a little tweaking, it may be a pizza worth having again.  The crust was a little think and dense, and maybe a little pasty.  I think that could be resolved by making it thinner.  I had thought that the pre-baking would have helped (the original recipe didn't involve a pre-bake), and I think it did a little, but the crust was just too thick.
     I roasted a myriad of veggies I just happened to have around - zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions - altogether for both pizzas.

Blurry Pic of Roasted Vegetables

    While the vegetables were roasting, I started in on the "cheese".  I have never worked with Nutritional Yeast Flakes before, and wasn't sure what to expect.  I combined the ingredients as instructed and put them in a sauce pan on my stove.  It said to cook and stir the sauce until it became thick, but as soon as I put the pan on the stove, I decided I was too hot.  I ran up stairs and quickly changed into shorts and ran back down stairs.  I couldn't have been gone more than a minute, and the sauce was already thick.

Uncooked "Cheese" Mixture

"Cheese" Mixture After a Minute of Heat

     After I had all of the elements of the first pizza taken care of, it was time to work on the potato-crust pizza.

VEGGIE PIZZA #2

Adapted from Food Network Kitchens

Crust:

14oz all-purpose potatoes (I used fingerlings here)

1/3 cup warm water

2 teaspoons agave syrup

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1½ cups white rice flour

3/4 cup tapioca starch

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons ground flax plus 3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon olive oil

Toppings:

½ of a red onion (cut into big hunks - I did wedges)

1 red bell pepper, cut into large pieces
1 small zucchini or yellow summer squash, sliced into quarter-inch thick medallions 

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 cup frozen corn

Make the crust:  Place the potatoes in a medium sauce pan.  Fill with enough water to just cover the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 25 minutes.  Drain the potatoes.  Once they are coole enough to handle, work the potatoes through a ricer over the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Stir together the warm water, agave, and yeast in a small bowl.  Set aside for about five minutes until the yeast starts to foam on the top of the water.  Add the yeast mixture to the potatoes.  Add the rice flour, tapioca starch, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.  Mix on medium speed until mixture is crumbly.  In a small bowl, mix the flax and 3 tablespoons of water together to form a little bit of a paste.  Add this paste to the potatoes, along with the tablespoon of olive oil.  Continue mixing until the dough comes together cohesively.  Form into a ball.  Place in a greased bowl and cover loosely.  Set aside and let rise for about 1½ hours. 

Prepare the toppings:   Preheat the oven on a high broil.  In a medium bowl, combine the onion, zuchinni and bell pepper chunks.  Add the soy sauce, garlic powder, basil, cumin, and olive.  Toss well to coat the vegetables.  Spread the vegetables in one layer on a jelly roll pan.  Broil on high for about ten minutes, or until there is a slight charring on most of the pieces.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool somewhat.

Assembly:  Preheat the oven to 450º F.  Pat the potato dough into a greased deep dish pizza pan, covering the entire bottom of the pan.  Place in preheated oven and cook until crust begins to brown and set - about 10 minutes.  Remove crust from oven and brush with olive oil.  Scatter broiled vegetables over crust.  Sprinkle corn kernels over the broiled vegetables.  Return pizza to the oven for about 5 minutes or until corn and vegetables have heated back up.  Serve immediately. 

     The original crust recipe instructed to peel the potatoes before ricing them, but I find that when you put whole potatoes in the ricer, most of the peel stays in the ricer anyway, so this seemed like an unnecessary step.  I did get some peels in with the riced potatoes, but it just adds extra nutrients and a little bit of color.

     The crust recipe didn't have any instructions for how to cook it.  I decided this crust was pretty thick, too, and should be cooked first.  Also, I wanted to try to get a little browning on it, hoping it would be like a large potato cake.  So, I cooked it for a little while, just like the first crust.

     Once it came out of the oven, I was ready to assemble both pizzas.

Crust and Sauce for Veggie Pizza #1

Crust and Sauce with Broiled Vegetables for Veggie Pizza #1

Crust, Sauce, Broiled Veggies, and Mushrooms on Veggie Pizza #1

   

Veggie Pizza #2  - Fully Assembled and Ready for the Oven

Veggie Pizza #1 - Fully Assembled and Ready for the Oven

     Once the pizzas were fully assembled, I carted them over to Jennifer's house for the final cooking.  They weren't home yet, because Jonah had a baseball game.  Jeff and I hung out in their house while the pizzas cooked.  

     I didn't take pictures of the final, cooked, pizzas, because I thought they looked exactly the same post-oven as pre-oven.

     Roger brought home two meat pizzas from Papa John's, so he and the kids didn't try either of the vegan pizzas.  Jeff tried them and actually declared that they were good.  The crust on the potato pizza was a little bit of a strange texture, but again, I think that was because of the amount of crust.  Later, I reread the recipe and realized that the crust was supposed to make TWO pizzas.  OOPS!  Maybe if they were half the thickness and the pan was preheated, they would have more closely resembled the potato cake I was looking for.  The veggies on top were fabulous - full of flavor, well-seasoned, and a little crunchy in spots.

     I had thought that the "cheese" on the first pizza would have melted in the oven, but, like I said before, it looked almost exactly the same going in as coming out.  Despite its lack of "melting",  the "cheese" was actually really tasty.  If I closed my eyes and tasted it, I wouldn't think it was cheese, but it was thick, slightly salty, a little earthy, and had a really nice texture to it.  It was almost like a cross between thick gravy and feta cheese.  This flavor combined with the broiled vegetables was a great pairing.

     I wouldn't call this challenge a complete success, but it did open my mind up to future possibilities and ideas for improvement.