Beetroot Rosemary Pizza with Almond Feta

Beetroot Pizza wm

Beetroot and Rosemary Pizza with Almond Feta

I love beetroot but I’m not normally a fan of it on pizza. But then Nourish Magazine asked me to do a series of beetroot recipes for one of their publications and among the many recipes I experimented with, I played with a popular beetroot pizza recipe to make it dairy free, vegan and healthier. And whilst doing the recipe development I made so much of this pizza that I came to love it!

 

YOU NEED

For the almond cheese

1/2 cup of blanched almonds

1/8 cup of fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon of olive oil

¾ teaspoon of salt

¼ cup of water

 

Other

2 large whole meal Lebanese pita breads

4 tablespoons of tomato passata

4-6 cooked baby beetroots, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary leaves

1cup of fresh rocket, washed well and drained

1 lemon

 

YOU DO

Make the almond feta the day before.  Simply blend all the almond ingredients together in a high powered food blender or food processor, for a few minutes until they are smooth. This takes about 5 minutes.

Line a colander with a clean chux and scrape the almond mixture onto the middle of the chux. Bring the sides of the chux up around the mixture and tie it firmly with an elastic band. Place the colander onto a bowl and place it into the fridge to drain over night.

Once your feta has drained and you are ready to make your pizzas, preheat your oven to 180c.  Lay your Lebanese breads onto oven trays. Top the bread with the passata. Evenly lay the beetroot slices on the passata and place the pizzas in the oven until the bread becomes crisp.

Sprinkle the feta, rosemary and rocket on top. Squeeze a little fresh lemon juice onto the pizzas also, just before you serve them.

 

Yields: 8 generous slices of pizza.

Time: Once the feta is ready this is such a quick recipe with 10 minutes of preparation and only 10-15 minutes of cooking time.

Notes: I use cooked baby beetroots that have been packaged in just their own juices. You find them in supermarkets near the uncooked beetroot. They make this a much quicker recipe and are not packaged in salt and sugar like canned beetroot.