With warmer days quickly creeping in, there’s only a limited amount of time left where I can justify using sweet potatoes on as many occasions as possible.
So here we go with an attempt to marry together a winter-meets-spring recipe, mixing hearty sweet potatoes with the summer-like vibes of pizza, arugula, and tomatoes.
Trust me — it’s a worthwhile excuse for baking sweet potatoes as we welcome June.
This was my first time experimenting with making a sweet potato crust, and I was pleasantly surprised.
My main challenge was determining whether to mix the baked sweet potato with oats or chickpea flour to compose the dough. I make socca — a pizza-like flatbread created simply from chickpea flour and water — all of the time, so it seemed natural to go that route.
However, ultimately, I wanted the dough to be a bit chewier, like actual pizza, versus the more tender consistency of socca, so I decided to pulse some oats and create an oat flour.
The result?
The crust is certainly chewier than socca, but a bit softer than a traditional dough. That being said, you can both eat this pizza with a fork, like you would with socca, or pick it up with your hands, like you would pizza.
I went with a white sauce to pair with the subtle sweetness of the crust, complimented by fresh and bitter arugula.
While the almond milk bechamel is another step in itself, it relies on just four ingredients, whisked together for a sauce that can be made in minutes.
Lastly, let’s talk about the vegan chorizo. I love Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, and a little bit goes a long way. However, if that’s not accessible to you, you could easily pan-fry some thinly sliced vegan sausage, instead, or tempeh bacon, or other substitute of your choice. Anything with a hint of spice and smokiness would work well here.
Vegan Pizza with Sweet Potato Crust
- May 31, 2017
- Serves 3-4
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Ingredients
- For the dough:
- 1 medium-large sweet potato, baked and skin removed
- 2/3 cup oats, ground in coffee grinder
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. oregano
- 3/4 tsp. garlic powder
- Coconut oil, to grease pizza pan
- For the Bechamel Sauce:
- 3/4 Tbsp. Olive Oil
- 2 tsp. All Purpose Flour
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- Pinch of basil
- Dash of salt
- Toppings:
- 1/4 link of trader joe's chorizo (1/8 of the pkg., which contains 2 links per pkg.)
- 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
- Olive oil, to saute the onions and chorizo
- 15 grape tomatoes, chopped
- 2 handfuls arugula (approx. 2 cups)
- Olive oil, to toss
- Pepper, to taste
Directions
- Step 1
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Step 2
- Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once oil is hot, add in the onions. Saute onions for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are caramelized
- Step 3
- Then add the chorizo. Saute for another 3-4 minutes, until chorizo begins to brown. Set aside.
- Step 4
- For the dough, combine all of the ingredients into a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Grease a circular pizza pan with coconut oil (you could also use parchment paper underneath, if available), and then gently spread the batter across the pizza pan, until the batter is uniform and about 1/4-inch thick.
- Step 5
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Flip, remove parchment paper if using, and cook another 5-10 minutes, until dough is firm and slightly crispy on the edges.
- Step 6
- To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a small pot over medium-high heat. As the oil heats, sift in the flour, stirring vigorously in the pan. Cook the flour for 1-3 minutes, until brown, stirring regularly, and turning down the heat if it starts to stick. Then, whisk in the almond milk, pinch of basil and dash of salt, and continue to stir until the sauce thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Step 7
- Once crust is done, spread the sauce across the crust – it should be a thin layer. Scatter chorizo and onions on top. (At this point, you can pop it back in the oven if it needs a little heat
- Step 8
- Otherwise, move on.) Then, in a bowl, toss arugula with a drizzle of oil, to coat, and then place arugula on top of the pizza. Scatter tomatoes around, slice the pizza and enjoy!
