Garden Pizza

The pictures were taken before the pizza was baked; it didn't really look much different afterwards. The leaves were added to the hot pizza when it came out of the oven, rather than being cooked.

We are using up the very last of 2014's pumpkins, beetroot and parsnips, and at the same time we now have this year's kale, spinach and red mustard greens- time for some creative thinking in the kitchen, and that's how this seasonal crossover pizza came to be! If basic pizza is defined as being yeast, cheese and tomato-based then this one really stretches that definition as the only conventional pizza ingredients here are a little tomato and the wheat flour. With all that veggie goodness, though, it's perfect for fuelling a sunny afternoon's work in your garden or allotment. Here's how it's made:

• The base is organic wholemeal flour with some ground linseed (flax) added; our recipe is here. It was precooked (but not browned), the toppings added and then it was returned to the oven for about 15 minutes.
• Instead of using tomato sauce, I pureed some pumpkin, added a little tomato puree, miso and a liberal sprinkling of sweet smoked paprika. the result was tasty, sweet and earthy.
• Pre-cooked sliced beetroot, strips of re-hydrated sundried tomato, olives and green peppers make up the bulk of the pizza top, along with a sprinkling of black pepper.
• The "cheese" is almond feta- get our recipe here. The salty, lemony flavour offsets the beetroot beautifully; well worth rubbing off all those almond skins for...
• Finally, when the pizza came out of the oven I added some peppery red mustard greens and wild rocket that I found in our polytunnel.

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