CARROT PIZZA WITH CARROT PIZZA SAUCE

This carrot pizza has carrot in the base and in the carrot pizza sauce! The carrot gives it a subtly sweet flavour and adds a lovely orange colour.

It’s Easter time, so I cut some of these carrot pizzas into carrot shapes! My kids absolutely loved them. French beans were the perfect thing to make as the carrot tops. These fun little pizzas were super-easy to make – especially if you knead the pizza dough in a stand mixer.

Feel free to use any toppings that you like – from olives and mushrooms, to sweetcorn and pineapple! I know, pineapple is controversial, but after artichoke hearts it’s my favourite pizza topping.

I added carrot puree to the simple pizza sauce, so that we could get a bit more veg into the meal – something I always try to do!

This recipe makes a family-sized batch of pizza dough with a thin crust. I cut half of it into carrot shapes, and left the rest of it as a big, sliceable rectangle for the grown ups.

We often make pizza at home and I love adding veg to colour the crust. My kids adore our Beet Pizza with it’s vibrant purple crust as well as this bright orange carrot crust (with a little help from turmeric)! You can’t taste the vegetables, but it adds such great hues.

For this challenge, Iceland Foods asked me to come up with a recipe for something that wasn’t quite as it seems – voila: carrot pizza shaped like carrots! It’s a fun idea for Easter that’s easy and great for the kids.  It would also work really well for a bunny-themed birthday party like we had when my daughter turned 1.

I used frozen carrots for this pizza and sauce as they’re so easy to keep on hand and add to sauces and other meals. Plus you only use what you need and they won’t go off! This recipe is also great for using up leftover cooked carrots.

CARROT PIZZA WITH CARROT PIZZA SAUCE

PREP TIME

2 hours

COOK TIME

12 mins

TOTAL TIME

2 hours 12 mins

A carrot pizza dough with carrot pizza sauce!

Author: shashank @ Veggie Desserts

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Italian

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

For the pizza dough

• 375g (3 cups) fresh or frozen carrots
• 180 ml (3/4 cup) warm water
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 350g (3 cups) plain flour (all-purpose)
• 1 tsp sea salt

For the carrot pizza sauce

• 8 tbsp carrot puree (left over from the pizza dough)
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

Toppings

• 1 ball mozzarella (or vegan alternative)
• 1 handful cherry tomatoes, sliced
• Handful rocket/arugula
• 3 tsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• French beans, cooked and cooled (if making carrot shaped pizzas)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Steam the carrots for a few minutes until soft. Refresh under cold water and drain well. Puree with a hand held stick blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside.

Pizza Dough:

In a stand mixer:

1. Pour the water into the bowl of the stand mixer, then sprinkle the yeast over the water and let it stand for a few minutes until the yeast has dissolved.
2. Insert the dough hook, add 150g (½ cup) of the pureed carrot (reserving the rest for the sauce), plus the flour and salt to the yeast water and knead with the machine for a few minutes until the dough forms a sticky ball. It will be a very soft dough, but if the dough is still too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it is manageable. Don’t add too much or it will affect the end result.

Alternatively make the pizza dough by hand:

1. Pour the water into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the water. Let it stand for a few minutes until the yeast has dissolved.
2. Add 150g (½ cup) of the pureed carrot (reserving the rest for the sauce), plus the flour and salt to the bowl of water and stir until it forms a loose dough.
3. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured countertop (on floured baking paper if you have a wooden countertop to avoid the carrot staining) and knead firmly for 5-10 minutes or until it’s smooth, (though it will be a soft sticky dough). If the dough is too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it is manageable. Don’t add too much or it will affect the end result.
4. For both dough methods:
5. Put the dough into a large lightly oiled bowl, then turn the dough over so both sides are covered in oil and cover with clingfilm. Place the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise for 1 ½ hours.

For the carrot pizza sauce:

1. In a bowl, mix the carrot puree (don’t worry if you don’t have quite enough left over from the pizza), tomato puree, oregano and garlic powder. Season with the salt and pepper and adjust to taste. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

To cook the pizza

1. Preheat the oven to 250C/ 480F, or as high your oven will go.
2. Divide the dough into thirds and then roll each one out on a lightly floured piece of baking paper, as thin as possible to fit the size of your baking tray. Transfer the pizza and baking paper to the baking tray.
3. Alternatively, use a knife or pizza cutter to cut the rolled rectangle into large triangles for carrot shapes and separate them slightly on the baking paper.
4. Spread the pizza bases with the carrot pizza sauce, then add the toppings. Drizzle with the olive oil.
5. Place the pizza in the oven and cook for 12 minutes or until the base is crisp and the edges have begun to brown.
6. Repeat with the remaining dough and toppings.
7. Pile the pizzas with the rocket/arugula and serve hot, cut into slices.
8. For the carrot shapes, serve with cooked French beans as the carrot tops.

 

THE POWER OF FROZEN

I’ve been working with Iceland Foods for a while now, and it’s been great to discover what a hidden gem it is! I snobbishly hadn’t shopped there much before, presuming that it was just frozen ready meals. How wrong I was! Let me tell you that Iceland is actually quite cutting-edge with their ever-changing frozen ranges. They have carrot fries (soooo good!), purple potato chips and sometimes I find frozen kale in there.

I’ve been very pleasantly surprised to find so many frozen foods that are healthy, plus being great time and money-savers. Their easy and inspirational products include frozen quinoa and sweet potato to asparagus and superfood mixes.

There are plenty of reasons to switch to frozen: the fruit and veg is frozen at the peak of freshness, so the flavour is locked in and you can also just use amount you need, so no food gets wasted. Plus, it tastes great.

My local Iceland Foods is easy to pop into, but sometimes those bags of frozen food can be heavy! So it’s good to know that Iceland will deliver your shopping for free! I live at the top of a hill, so that’s very handy when I stock up my freezer.