White Pizza with Asparagus, Mushroom, and Sun-Dried Tomato

So...Kate and I are trying this thing where we make food. Separately. And post about it. Separately. Since she's all the way in Portland and I'm up here in Tacoma kickin' it without her, it seems like our days of happy communal eating and posting (well...when we weren't overwhelmed by schoolwork) are on a short hiatus. However, since we are us, we are not letting this short separation deter us from a summer of wonderful cooking followed by even more wonderful eating. And we've decided that the food blog will continue even though we won't technically be cooking or eating together most of the time. While this may be a slightly sad turn of events, it's also pretty exciting because - wait for it - you'll get to see my and Kate's individual chef flare! So, without further ado, here is what your resident crazy vegan gets up to when her non-vegan co-conspirator is not around...

Apparently mostly what I do is put random veggies in the food processor. 

...EAT ASPARAGUS!! Okay, so I also eat asparagus when Kate is here, but for the past few weeks, asparagus season has been going on full force here in Washington, and since I work at a farmer's market, I have been eating asparagus almost non-stop. Like, way more than is probably normal. Asparagus has been my constant side-dish for everything, has gone into a myriad of sandwiches and stir-frys, and, no joke, I even had asparagus for breakfast the other day. Needless to say, I've been looking for really creative ways to use up asparagus.

Look at that beautiful crust! Props to Marta for the fancy crust-shaping...

I would not normally think to put asparagus on a pizza. It's not a very intuitive pizza topping like olives or tomatoes or basil, but I've been craving pizza for a while now thanks to my new housemate Marta, who is a Pizza Guru (see: Master of Pizza or Professional Pizza-er). Basically, Marta also really likes to cook and while she is not a vegan chef,  she definitely has some pretty awesome pizza stylin' going on. In fact, the first day we met, Marta offered to make me pizza, and ever since I had to turn down her admittedly delicious-looking but unfortunately meat-and-cheese-covered pizza, I've had a secret plan to make a pizza of my own. And I just happened to have a bunch of asparagus lying around that I really needed to use. So. Asparagus on a pizza. Marta, being a Pizza Guru, was on hand to make helpful suggestions and teach me the art of Beautiful Crust-Making.

I actually got the idea for this particular pizza where I get most of my inspiration for eating: Pinterest. Now, before you judge me, Pinterest is actually a really cool thing for foodies because you can save all the random internet recipes you find in one place AND all of them are saved as PICTURES. I don't know about you, but looking at food is about 3/4 of what gets me excited about eating food. It's nice because when I'm not sure what I want for dinner, I can go look at a bunch of really good-looking food pictures THAT I PICKED OUT and THAT HAVE RECIPES ATTACHED TO THEM. Anyways, the other day I found a pin claiming diary-free white sauce made from cauliflower that tastes just like the real thing. And I had to try it.

The white sauce comes from Sodium Girl's post here, but if you read her post and leave expecting a sauce that tastes like milk, butter, and cheese, I would tell you to not believe everything you read on Pinterest. I hate to break it to you, but this sauce does not taste like that. Don't get me wrong - it's creamy and garlic-y and gets kind of bubbly and crisp-y on top when baked, but it also tastes like cauliflower. Not cheese. The original recipe just used cauliflower and water, but I am not one to skimp, so I fattened it up a little with some olive oil, almond milk, and nutritional yeast for a more savory, cheese-y flavor. It turned out really well AND was a great pair for the copious amounts of asparagus I have lying around. I of course added my mother's homemade whole wheat pizza crust and - voilà! - PIZZA! 

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough*

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 envelope active dry yeast

1 plus 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Thyme, rosemary, or other fresh or dried herbs (optional)

1.  Combine the sugar, warm water, and yeast in a bowl and let sit five minutes, or until the surface is bubbly.

2.  Add 1 cup all purpose flour (save the 1/4 cup), whole wheat flour, salt, and olive oil and combine. You can also add any fresh or dried herbs to the dough at this point, a fantastic idea from my resident pizza guru Marta that makes a really delicious crust. I added about 2 tsp of thyme. 

3.  Knead the dough for fifteen minutes on a floured surface, adding the 1/4 cup as necessary until the dough is only slightly sticky.  

4.  Place in a large bowl, cover with a towel, and let sit for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, or until the dough doubles in size.

5.  Punch the dough down - it is now ready to roll out!

*this recipe comes from an ancient pizza cookbook of my mother's and is absolutely delicious!

Cauliflower "White" Pizza Sauce

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1 head garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

2 tsp oregano

1/4 - 1/2 cup almond milk

salt and pepper to taste

1. Roast the head of garlic. To do this, cut off the top of the head, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap in tinfoil. Place in the oven at 400°F for at least 20 minutes, or until very soft. Let cool.

2. Steam the cauliflower florets. 

3. Combine the streamed cauliflower florets and the roasted garlic (you can just squeeze it right out of the skin once it's cooled) in a food processor. Add the olive oil, nutritional yeast, and oregano and blend.

4. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk) until the sauce is your desired consistency - I left mine a little thick so it would be easily spreadable. Add salt and pepper to taste.  

White Pizza Assembly

Whole wheat pizza dough

Cauliflower "white" pizza sauce

6 stalks of asparagus, cut into 1-inch sections

6 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, sliced 

Sliced sun-dried tomatoes

Daiya mozzarella cheeze (optional)

1. Roll out pizza dough and place on a pizza pan or cookie sheet (fancy schmancy crust rolling in my pictures is thanks to my pizza-talented housemate Marta!)

2. Spread on a thick layer of the cauliflower pizza sauce. I personally like my pizza saucy, so I put on a LOT.

3. Layer on asparagus chunks, mushroom slices, onion slices, and sun-dried tomatoes.

4. Finish with a little bit of Daiya cheeze on top or actual cheese (optional).  

**As I mentioned before in this post, I got the idea for this pizza sauce (and the pizza) at Sodium Girl, here. You should check her out - she's got some great stuff!**