Zucchini Pizza

       This is one of my all-time favourite pizzas. It’s a classic in our house and is a great way to use all those zucchinis. It you grow zucchinis at home, you know what I mean. Once they start, you’re eating zucchini 24/7.

        This type of zucchini pizza is rift off of a traditional Italian pizza, but you know, veganized. We add sesame seeds and bread crumbs for a little bit of crunch to an otherwise deliciously soft zucchini filling.

Look at all those zucchinis Rye's HomeGrown is selling at the market!

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

• 1/3 pizza dough recipe, rested
• 1 medium-large zucchini (large in grocery store varieties, otherwise medium from the garden)
• Scant ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup vegan shredded cheese, such as Daiya
• 3 green onions, chopped thinly
• ¼ cup fresh basil, sliced into ribbons
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced paper thin or minced
• Fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 2-3 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 1/8 cup bread crumbs

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 550°F, with the pizza stone positioned on the center rack. If not using a pizza stone, see my recipe for the pizza dough recipe for how to prepare this recipe using a metal baking tray.
2. Use a food processor with a grater attachment or a box grater to grate the zucchini (large grate).
3. Toss grated zucchini in a bowl with salt. I know it seems like a lot of salt, but most of it will be lost in the liquid! Let stand for approximately 20 minutes, until the zucchini has released a good amount of water.
4. Transfer zucchini to a colander. Discard any remaining liquid. In small batches, squeeze out the zucchini and then transfer back to the bowl.
5. Loosen up the zucchini with a fork. Mix in cheese, green onion, basil, dried oregano, garlic and black pepper. Taste and season if needed.
6. On a floured surface, stretch out the dough and transfer to a floured pizza peel with cornmeal.
7. Depending on how wet your dough is, you can choose to make the pizza on the pizza peel or directly on the pizza stone. We make ours on the pizza stone after we had to turn our pizza into an extra-large calzone one too many times. But it’s up to you! Either way, you want to slowly slide the pizza/dough onto the stone.
8. Bake at 550°F for approximately 10 minutes, then switch to broil and broil for 2 additional minutes. These times are based off of an electric oven, if using gas, less time will be needed, so adjust accordingly.
9. When the crust and the bread crumbs are golden brown, remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack or cutting board. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.