Mini Portobello Paleo Pizzas
Portobello pizza – also known as flourless pizza. This recipe makes four ‘pizzas’ and they’re best eaten fresh from the oven, so just halve the ingredients if it’s only you eating, or two people who just want a snack. By the way, if you’re following the Paleo diet, then this is a good recipe to add to your repertoire. And even if you’re not, it’s still a great-tasting dish that’ll help you meet your daily vegetable quota, whilst being low in calories!
Ingredients
Instructions
10 steps
Clean any dirt from the mushrooms with a paper towel.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (176 C).
Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
If you’re using sausage, cook it now! 10 – 15 minutes in a frying pan should make all the pink disappear. When it’s done, remove it from the pan, pat it dry with kitchen towel and set aside.
Remove the mushroom stalks with your hands and place the mushrooms on a baking sheet, before brushing them with the olive oil.
Turn the mushrooms over and sprinkle on the Italian spices, red pepper, and salt and pepper to taste, as well as the chopped garlic.
When the oven is ready, put the tray with the mushrooms inside for about 7 minutes. (Doing this before adding the vegetables means the mushrooms will be cooked through and the toppings won’t be over-done.)
While the mushrooms are in the oven, cut the bell pepper into slices, slice your onion, and rip up the basil. Slice your olives now, too, if they’re whole.
When the mushrooms have been in the oven for 7 minutes or so, remove them and add your toppings, starting with the tomato sauce.
Place the ‘pizzas’ in the oven for 15 more minutes and then let them cool for a couple of minutes before serving (you could prepare a crunchy green salad while this is happening).
Notes: Paleo Diet
- Lots of talk about the ‘Paleo diet’ over the last decade or so
- Also referred to as the Paleolithic diet, the Caveman diet and the Stone-age diet
- Been around quite a long time (can be traced back to a 1975 book by gastroenterologist Walter Voegtlin) – but popularized more recently in the best-selling book, the Paleo Diet, by Loren Cordain
- Based on the idea of eating only the kind of food our Paleolithic ancestors would’ve eaten two and a half million years ago
- In Paleo recipes, you tend to find a lot of vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, eggs, and lean meats
- Basically a high protein-low carb diet
- It’s a lifestyle component of some sports – Crossfit, in particular
- The Paelo diet is also famous for helping people to reduce their weight by leaving out certain food groups – such as dairy, grains, beans and pulses, sugar and processed oils
- In fact, all processed food is ruled out under the paleo diet – that’s food that’s been altered from its natural state in some way
Photos
Notes: Ingredients
Italian sausage
- It’s possible to buy ground sausage in bulk and cook it yourself, but perhaps more convenient to buy them in skins. You can use any kind you like, but try to choose good quality sausages, with flavours that will sit well with the vegetables and Italian herbs.
