Meat Lovers Pizza

Meat lovers pizza.

Usually, when I want pizza, I make meatza (see a couple recipes here and here). It’s a ground meat crust, topped with sauce and veggies, and baked like a pizza. It’s delicious and satisfying. But recently, when I stumbled upon Against All Grain’s Meat Lovers Pizza,  I knew I had to try it.

Having a Vitamix makes the crust incredibly easy to make, but a food processor will work too. I varied my toppings, but I think it still somewhat suffices as meat lovers. An addition of bacon would have made it more accurate though. I guess I’ll just have to make it again, so I can put bacon on it.

Here’s how I followed the recipe. I didn’t change much with the crust, except I used Italian herb-infused olive oil instead of regular for extra flavor, and used dried herbs instead of fresh because that’s what I had. As I mentioned previously, I varied the toppings and also omitted the raw mozzarella cheese.

For the crust:

• 3/4 cup whole raw cashews (or cashew flour)
• 3 Tbsp whole raw almonds (or almond flour)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (next time I will use 1/4 tsp. It was a little too salty.)
• Dash of garlic granules
• 2 large eggs, preferably pasture-raised
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2½ Tbsp Italian herb-infused extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 Tbsp cold water
• 1/2 Tbsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp dried basil

The crust, prior to baking.

The crust, post baking, with the sauce on top. Now, it’s ready for all the good stuff.

For the pizza:

• 1/2 cup marinara or pizza sauce (make sure it is not sweetened)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1/2 lb ground buffalo, browned
• 2 homemade turkey breakfast patties, cooked and diced into small pieces
• Tuscan herb-infused olive oil, for drizzling, optional

The pizza in its entirety, after baking.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a food processor, pulse the cashews and almonds until a fine flour has formed. Alternatively, you can use the grain attachment of a Vitamix if you have one, which is what I did.
3. Dump the cashew/almond flour into a large bowl, and mix in the coconut flour, garlic granules, sea salt and baking soda by hand.
4. Add the eggs, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and water, and mix well.
5. Add the parsley and basil, and combine.
6. Let the dough rest for 2 minutes to let the coconut flour absorb some of the liquid. Note, it is a fairly wet dough, so don’t be alarmed that it doesn’t come together into a dense ball.
7. Turn the dough out onto a large sheet of parchment paper on the counter. Sprinkle a little almond flour on the top of the ball of dough, if desired (I didn’t use any), and then place another piece of parchment on top.
8. Use your hands to flatten the ball into a disc, then lightly roll out the dough into a circle that is 1/4 inch thick.
9. Remove the top piece of parchment and carefully by gently tugging from one corner. Slide the other piece with the crust onto a pizza pan. Note, if you can’t remove the parchment without taking half of the dough with it, just bake the crust with the top piece intact. You can remove it once the crust has baked and before you add the toppings.
10. Bake the crust for 12 minutes, or until it has puffed up and is golden brown around the edges.
11. Top with marinara sauce, ground buffalo, sausage and mushrooms and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
12. Slice and drizzle a little extra olive oil on top, if desired.

I like a hearty slice.