Pizza with Vegetable Toppings

 

What is a pizza?

The answer depends on how you define a pizza. A loose definition could be “some kind of flat bread with stuff on it”. Using this loose definition, need to consider that ancient Persian soldiers baked flat bread on their shields and covered them with cheese and dates.

However, we come to think of pizza as a traditional Italian dish. The Italian pizza is a flatbread topped with tomato sauce, cheese, meat and baked in an oven.

However, in this article, pepperoni will be kicked aside because we will try different toppings for your healthy home-made pizza.

Who doesn’t love pizza? It is almost an addictive food, and there’s no wrong way of eating it.

But what is the origin of pizza? Let’s learn more about the history of this fantastic food.

Where does Pizza come from?

Do the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians or Italians make the first pizza?

According to an article by Linda Stradley on the What’s Cooking America website

During the 6th Century B.C.

“.. it is said that the soldiers of Darius the Great (521-486 B.C.), accustomed to lengthy marches, baked a kind of bread flat upon their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates.”

And during the 3rd Century B.C.

“.. Cato the Elder wrote the first history of Rome. He wrote about “flat round of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs, and honey baked on stones.”

Wikipedia’s entry for the history of pizza tells us that “The word pizza was first documented in 997 AD in Gaeta and successively in different parts of Central and Southern Italy.”

The Passion 4 Pizza.Com website summarizes the history of pizza into three categories:

• the origin of the “ancient pizza” is a toss-up,
• the “middle pizza” was Greek,
• and “modern pizza” (pre-American) was definitely Italian

However, whatever the origins of the pizza, the important thing is to find new ways to enjoy healthy pizzas today.

3 Easy Pizza Recipes with Vegetable Toppings

Craziness and weirdness are sometimes useful especially in inventing good food. Here are 3 pizza recipes with vegetable pizza toppings:

• Potato and Kale Pizza

A healthier pizza for a healthier you. Guilt will be set aside for using potato and kale as toppings to your pizza. Here’s a Jill Dupleix recipe from New Zealand’s stuff.co.nz website:

Ingredients:

Topping:

250g Desiree scrubbed potato	150g oyster mushrooms
3 tbsp olive oil	1 finely sliced red onion
2 cups tightly packed kale leaves	1 mozzarella ball, drained and torn
100g fontina or similar, coarsely grated	chili oil for serving

Pizza base:

7g dried yeast	1 tsp castor sugar
300g strong plain flour, plus extra for dusting	1 tsp salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. To make the pizza bases, mix the yeast with 200 milliliters of lukewarm water. Add the castor sugar, stir, and set aside for 10 minutes. Mix the flour and one teaspoon of salt in a bowl, and make a well in the center. Slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour, drawing in the flour with your fingers until the dough forms into a mass. Add two tablespoons of olive oil, and continue to mix until all the oil is absorbed.
2. Turn out onto a floured work surface, and knead the dough until it is smooth and no longer sticky, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for two hours.
3. In the meantime, cook the potato whole in simmering water for 10 minutes. Drain, cool and finely slice (unpeeled) into rounds. Tear any larger mushrooms in half and toss in one tablespoon of olive oil with the red onion. Tear the kale leaves into bite-sized pieces and massage with one tablespoon of olive oil.
4. Heat the oven to its highest setting. Divide the dough in half, roll out two pizza bases, brush with remaining oil, and arrange the sliced potato, torn mozzarella, oyster mushrooms, red onion and grated fontina on top.
5. Bake for five minutes, then scatter with kale leaves and bake for a further five minutes or until crisp. Cut into wedges and serve with chili oil.

• Spinach and Artichoke Pizza

Another healthy treat is this spinach artichoke by Cooking Classy.

Ingredients:

1 homemade or store-bought pizza dough	8 oz fresh spinach, divided
2 Tbsp butter	2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk	1/4 tsp onion powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper	1 clove garlic, minced
extra-virgin olive oil	4 oz provolone cheese
2 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)	2 oz finely shredded parmesan cheese
6 – 8 canned artichoke hearts, drained well and quartered (don’t use marinated)	Red pepper flakes, for serving (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place pizza stone in preheated oven and allow to rest in oven 20 minutes. Meanwhile, stretch and shape pizza dough over a sheet of parchment paper to a 13-inch round, while creating a taller rim along the outer edge. Brush with 1 Tbsp olive oil and season crust lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then allow to rest while pizza stone preheats (note that if your pizza crust has been refrigerated, be sure to bring it to room temperature first, then shape and let it rest the 20 minutes).
2. In a large saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add 3/4 of the spinach and saute just until wilted. Transfer to a layer of paper towels and gently press some of the excess liquid out. Finely chop spinach and set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, then while whisking adds in flour and onion powder and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Then while whisking slowly stir in milk and increase temperature to medium-high heat and cook, constantly stirring until mixture has thickened well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Remove from heat and stir in minced garlic and sautéed, chopped spinach. Chop remaining fresh spinach (you should have about 1 1/2 cups chopped), set aside.
5. Bake 10 – 13 minutes until crust is golden brown.

• Whole-Wheat Pizza with Onions and Bitter Greens

Some people like bitter flavors, so if you are one of those people this pizza is for you from the Delish website

Ingredients:

¾ tsp. active dry yeast	¾ c. warm water
¼ tsp. sugar	1 c. whole-wheat flour
1 c. all-purpose flour	½ tsp. salt
extra-virgin olive oil	2 tbsp. canola oil
2 large onions	10 sprig thyme
salt	Freshly ground pepper
¼ c. pine nuts	1 clove garlic
1 head radicchio	2 c. kale leaves
1 tbsp. sage leaves	5 oz. fresh mozzarella

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the yeast with 1/4 cup of the warm water and the sugar and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of water, the whole-wheat and all-purpose flours, the salt, and the 2 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil and beat at medium speed until a soft, supple dough forms, about 8 minutes. Roll the dough into a ball, rub it with olive oil, and return it to the bowl. Cover the dough and let stand until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven, allowing at least 30 minutes for it to preheat. Punch down the dough and divide it into 3 pieces; form them into 3 balls and transfer to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes.
3. In a large skillet, heat the canola oil. Add the onions and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring once or twice, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook until the onions are very soft and golden, about 15 minutes longer; add water as needed to keep the onions from scorching. Discard the thyme.
4. Spread the pine nuts in a pie plate and toast in the oven until golden, 2 minutes.
5. In a large bowl, combine the garlic and olive oil. Add the radicchio, kale, and sage, season lightly with salt and pepper, and toss.
6. Turn the broiler on. Roll or stretch one ball of dough to a 10-inch round and transfer it to a floured pizza peel. Mound one-third of the greens on top, followed by one-third each of the onions, pine nuts, and cheese. 7. Carefully slide the pizza onto the hot stone and bake until the crust is browned and the toppings are sizzling, 8 to 10 minutes. Cut the pizza into wedges and serve right away. Repeat to make the remaining 2 pizzas.

See? Pizzas can be a healthy food alternative!

They’re loved by people of all, and by using vegetable toppings, your pizzas can never be classified as junk food.

Pizzas like these will definitely be good for your health.