Recipe: Lazy Vegan Stove Top Frying Pan Pizza

The things you manage to discover when your oven explodes and is out of action! There is always a silver lining, because now I've found out how to make this amazing stove top, frying pan vegan pizza, and I doubt there will be any going back. It's soooo easy - and probably far more energy efficient too. And I think if I was to use vegan cheese, I'd be able to give it a minute under the grill to melt it.

Yes, so last week I decided to use the pyrolytic (self-cleaning) function on my fancy pants oven for the first time. It's never been used or cleaned before, because I guess the fact that I only ever cook vegan food in my oven means it doesn't get slathered in grease the way a non-vegan oven might. Anyhow - within 15 minutes of it being switched on, a bomb went off in my kitchen (i.e. the internal glass door shattered), and that was that. My oven is ruined. Luckily, it is still under guarantee, and the engineer has been round and ordered a new glass pane. But it's out of action.

And of course, yesterday I forgot the oven wasn't working. And I decided to buy some mushrooms, peppers, fresh basil etc with the view to cooking and tucking into a tasty, home-baked pizza. When I got home with my shopping, I nearly cried when I realised I wasn't going to be baking that pizza. But not to be beaten, I had a quick search online and saw that stove top pizzas were a possibility - hallelujah!

And there we go. What a relief. I WAS going to get my pizza, and more importantly - it DID turn out to be really super-tasty. It's obviously more of a thin-crust type than a doughy, thick crust, but who cares? It's pizza! And it's good!

For my version of frying pan pizza, I have used ingredients that add a cheesy flavour to the sauce base. Mainly because I had no vegan cheese in, and also, this is a simple solution to getting a slightly cheesy taste, without having to worry about how the cheese will melt. The miso paste and nutritional yeast flakes, therefore, are very much optional - but they definitely deepen the flavour, so I'd suggest adding if you have them in.

Also - in making this EVEN lazier (how could that be possible, you ask?!), I used a ready-mixed pizza base flour that I bought in Aldi. It already has the yeast in, so no need to mix it separately. However, use what you have. My recipe instructions are based on the particular packet I have used, but you may need to check to follow your own.

I'm really excited for my readers to give this a go and let me know what they think? Please, do it NOW! You won't regret it!

Further recipe tips:

1. You can (obviously!) use your own selection of veggies! Just ensure to cook them well first, as they won't cook on the top of the pizza.

2. I like spicy pizzas - omit or reduce the amount of chilli if you don't want so much kick.

3. Use a really good, non-stick frying pan for this, as you're going to be dry-frying the base!

Lazy Vegan Stove Top Frying Pan Pizza
Serves one (or two less greedy people)

Pizza dough:
1⅛ cup / 175g pizza base flour mix (already contains yeast)
1 teaspoon oil
⅓ cup+2 tbsp / 100ml lukewarm water

Vegetables:
½ red pepper, finely sliced
¼ onion, finely sliced
2-3 closed cap mushrooms, finely sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
½ red chilli, finely chopped (optional)
Oil for frying

Tomato base:
1½ tablespoons tomato purée
1 teaspoon olive oil
¼ cup or small handful of chopped, fresh basil leaves
½ teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes (optional but adds cheesy flavour)
½ tablespoon yellow miso paste (optional but adds cheesy flavour)
2-4 tablespoons cold water (depending on consistency desired)

1. Mix the oil and warm water together with a fork, and then add your yeast-ready pizza base flour and mix well, then kneed for 5 minutes (or follow the instructions on your packet – they may have different proportions!). Leave the dough in a bowl, covered with a tea towel, for about 25-30 minutes. For my one pizza, the amounts I have given are plenty to fill a large frying pan and cook the base properly.

2. While the dough is rising, prepare and cook your vegetables. You can do all the chopping in this time! Sauté the onion first in a frying pan with some oil on a medium heat, then add the pepper, mushrooms and chilli (if using). DON'T add the cherry tomatoes yet. Leave the vegetables to fry on a low heat while you make up the sauce for the base.

3. Prepare the tomato sauce. In a small bowl, add the tomato purée and stir in the olive oil, miso paste, garlic salt, nutritional yeast and chopped basil. Add the cold water for the desired consistency. I needed about 4 tablespoons once the miso and 'nooch' had been added. Set aside.

4. If your vegetables are softened and cooked, add the cherry tomatoes and cook for about two minutes more. Turn the heat off, and keep warm in a bowl or in a covered pan on a very, very low heat.

5. If around 30 minutes has passed, and the dough has risen slightly (it's nit a disaster if it hasn't, since you're cooking in the frying pan anyhow!), punch it down then roll it out thinly and so it is just larger than the base of the pan – so the sides are slightly upturned when you place it in the pan.

6. Heat a dry, non stick frying pan on medium and place the dough base into it. Cook for about 5 minutes one side. Turn the base over, it should be nicely browned one side. Start cooking the other side, and spread the tomato sauce mix across it. Then spread the vegetables over it. Cook about 5 minutes more, and hey presto, frying pan pizza at the ready!

ENJOY!!!!!

Comments

Looks lush, homemade pizzas always do look and taste so much better (even when made by someone as talentless as me!) than anything you can buy with god knows what in it!

Posted by: Pete | April 08, 2014 at 11:50 AM