Roasted Garlic and Broccoli Rabe Pizza

Pizza

I entered this recipe in a Whole Foods contest for roasted garlic. It makes a great pizza but just as easily converts to a low carb vegetable dish by eliminating the pizza dough entirely. I used a whole garlic bulb, that may sound like a lot but when you roast garlic it loses the pungent, sharp flavor that raw garlic has and you can use considerably more to get that garlic taste.

First I roasted the whole garlic bulb, I love the smell of garlic and my kitchen was filled with the aroma.

1 whole bulb garlic

Olive Oil

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut 1/2 inch from the top of the bulb of garlic. Add about an inch of olive oil to a bowl and place garlic cut side down in the olive oil. Let sit for 15 minutes. Lay a sheet of foil on baking sheet. Place garlic on the foil and pour the rest of the olive oil directly onto the bulb. Fold into a packet and put in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes then turn the oven off and leave the garlic in the oven until it cools, approximately 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and squeeze half of the soft garlic into a mixing bowl, mash with a fork.

The roasted garlic

To make the pizza you can use your favorite recipe for pizza dough or a prepared dough that you can get from your local pizzaria or supermarket.

Ingredients:

1 lb broccoli rabe

Mashed half bulb of roasted garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp lemon zest

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

pecorino romano or your favorite type of cheese (grated and shaved)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 2 tbs salt, clean the broccoli rabe and remove tough stems. When water is boiling put the broccoli in and boil for 10 minutes. Prepare an ice bath, take the broccoli out and place directly in ice bath. Lay some paper towels on the counter and when the broccoli has cooled lay out in one layer on the paper towel so it can dry.

To the bowl with mashed garlic add the 1/4 cup olive oil, lemon zest, crushed red pepper and some ground black pepper (add salt if you like but be careful not to add to much as the cheese is salty. Stir and set aside.

Heat oven to 500 degrees

Press pizza dough onto your pizza pan, brush with some olive oil and sprinkle grated pecorino romano on the dough. Arrange the broccoli rabe and shave some cheese on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes the pizza crust will be golden brown. Remove from oven, grate little more cheese on top and drizzle with olive oil.