Courgette (zucchini) pizza

You are not going to believe just how delicious this is. I promise you. It surprised both Mark and me, and we fought over the left overs the next day for lunch. It just has such a satisfying mouth feel and the flavours are so simpatico. As ever it is very good for your temple, high in fibre, low in fat and no sugar added. There’s plenty protein too supplied mostly by the tofu, which is a pure plant based protein.

On the road to Soufriere just before Canaries on the West coast of St. Lucia, Plas Cassave has built a name for themselves. It is now de rigeur to stop and buy their cassava bread which comes in many flavours. The flour I used in this recipe was produced by them. Cassava is significant in our history as it was the main food crop of the indigenous people of St. Lucia, the Amerindians. They called it Manioc which is delicious, but they also made a poison from the sap of the plant, which they anointed the tips of their arrows with. My cousins’ grandmother Monie, would not eat any food prepared on the same day as cassava for fear that some of this “juice” had jumped from one pot to another. Have no fear, there’s no poison involved here.

Cassava flour is now readily available here in the supermarkets, but you could just as easily use quinoa or indeed regular wheat flour.

Serves 3

700g grated courgette (zucchini)

2 tsp salt

large bunch coriander (cilantro) chopped

2 eggs beaten

65g (1/2c) cassava flour (or quinoa)

3 spring onions roughly chopped

3 large tomatoes sliced in rings

125g crumbled feta

1 tbsp olive oil for greasing

topping

350g firm tofu

1 small garlic clove crushed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

juice 1/2 lemon

Begin by coarsely grating the courgette straight into a colander and liberally sprinkle on 1 tsp salt which you mix in thoroughly. Leave in the sink to get on with your other chopping and slicing. Oil the dish you intend to cook this in. I used a pizza dish, but you could use a cake pan and just have a thicker crust.

Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F)

After at least 5/6 minutes, squeeze and squeeze the grated courgette in your hands until you have extracted a surprisingly large amount of frothy green water. Put the courgette into a bowl and add the chopped chilli, coriander, eggs, spring onions, feta and flour. Mix together thoroughly.

Spread the dough onto your dish and take some time to make it even as it will not spread in cooking.

Next to go on are the sliced tomatoes. I decided it would be a good idea to partially cook the pizza at this stage, so put it in the oven for 15 minutes.

While you wait for the first cooking, mix the tofu with the crushed garlic, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and some salt and pepper. Once the pizza base has dried out a bit, take it out the oven and share the tofu around the edges as in my photo. The reason for this is that the edge will have cooked the most, so this allows more of the heat to get to the centre, less cooked, piece of the pie.

Cook for a further 10 minutes, then remove and slice using some sort of pie slice. This “pizza” is very light and delicate and needs to be handled in a similar manner so gently dish up your slices. I think this would be best enjoyed either as a solo act or with a crunchy green salad.