Recipe: Beetroot + Blue Cheese Pizzas

(optional vegan cashew cheese)

Ingredients:

Base:

15g fresh yeast or 7g sachet dried

300ml tepid fresh beetroot juice

500g strong white flour

15g fine sea salt

2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sauce:

bunch raw beets

bunch vine tomatoes

1 lemon

Topping:

your choice of blue cheese, recommended a Gorgonzola or Stilton (Colton Basset is my preferred local cheese tipple) -(alternatively make a vegan cashew cheese by whizzing up 250g of overnight soaked cashews with a splash of almond milk, lemon juice + a pinch of salt. Add enough Almond milk to find the required consistency)

beetroot chutney (see other recipe)

rocket

One of my favourite get together meals is pizza night! The best pizza dough recipe I've found is from Polpo, which is in the cookbook or easy to find online. All you're doing is replacing the water with beetroot juice. To make beetroot juice, get a bunch of fresh beets and grate them up, take some muslin and squeeze the grated beetroot to extract juice. Reuse the grated beets in a coleslaw or salad.

The sauce is really simple but one of the best sauces I've made. Peel, drizzle in olive oil, and roast the beets and tomatoes until soft, they should start to shrivel and brown very slightly. Whizz up in a food processor, season with salt, pepper + lemon. Quantities aren't too necessary here as any left over sauce you can use for pasta or a veggie stew. The beetroot : tomato ratio is always fun to play with, they'll taste different every time.

It's easy (for me especially) to go overboard with pizza toppings but this one is just so delicious with the 'less is more' tactic. Earthy pizza base, with a delicious perfectly seasoned sauce, topped with a slightly sweet chutney, balanced out by that tasty blue!