Allergy-Friendly Pizza

A serving of allergy-friendly pizza. Photo: Charlotte Graham-McLay

In our house, we've got one person who's low-FODMAP - for him, that means absolutely no onion or garlic, at all, and no high-lactose dairy - and another who's gluten free and vegetarian. That can make dinners tricky, but with a little practice, even comfort-food recipes like pizza can be adapted to be onion and garlic-free. Different people on a low-FODMAP diet have different allergies, so double-check you can eat everything here, but here's a from-scratch pizza sauce that's super easy, and goes with a pizza that doesn't use gluten, meat, or soft cheese. I cheat and buy the pizza bases!

Serves four if you make two pizzas

Ingredients

Pack of two gluten-free pizza bases (Venerdi Gluten Freedom Fancier Sourdough are delicious, and available at regular supermarkets).
Oil of choice (we use rice bran).
500 gm fresh tomatoes or cherry tomatoes.
Heaped tbsp chopped fresh chives.
Heaped tbsp grated fresh fennel.
1 tsp salt.
Half tsp pepper.
One eggplant, thinly sliced.
400 gm mushrooms (some low-FODMAP eaters can't tolerate these, so replace with 4 courgettes, halved and thinly sliced, if you need to).
Two large handfuls of chopped, fresh basil.
Two handfuls of grated parmesan or other tasty, hard cheese. Make this vegan by using Angel Food dairy-free parmesan, available at regular supermarkets).

Method

Heat oven to 180 degrees. Cover tomatoes in a little oil and roast until starting to pucker and split - 15 minutes max. Transfer tomatoes and any oils/juices to a large pot. Put sliced eggplant and courgettes/mushrooms into a covered tray or dish (cover with foil if need be) and put in the oven for 20 minutes or so - just until soft and starting to colour up. They shouldn't be completely cooked, as they will grill further on top of the pizza. While they cook, put pot of tomatoes on a low-medium heat and use a potato masher to mash tomatoes to a pulp. Keep stirring the pot, and turn down to a low heat when they start to bubble. Add the chives, fennel, salt and pepper, and stir. Allow to simmer, uncovered, on a low heat, stirring to keep from sticking, until the mix thickens up to something you could spread on the pizza. It takes about 15 minutes. Remove sliced vegetables from oven and set aside. Switch oven to grill. An optional step: brush the two pizza bases with a little oil on the bottom (nice olive oil if you have it!) and put under the grill, oil side up, for 10 minutes, just to get them all crispy. Remove them from the oven and flip them over, oil side down. Spread the tomato paste on the pizzas bases (should cover two bases), spreading right to the edges with a knife. Spread your eggplant and mushrooms/courgettes across the top of each pizza, so you have a flat layer completely covering each, with no gaps. Put under the grill for a further 10 minutes or so, until the veggies look nicely cooked (but before the pizza edges burn!). Remove from the oven, spread a generous handful of basil over each, followed by a generous handful of grated parmesan, and return to the oven until the parmesan has melted onto the pizza (a couple of minutes). Serve with pan-fried potatoes or mashed kumara.

The low-FODMAP pizza sauce was adapted from Living FODMAP Free. Charlotte Graham-McLay is a RNZ Social Journalist.