Paleo Pizza on Portobello Caps

Whether it's gluten-free deep dish pizza or grain-free cauliflower crust, I love dreaming up ways to make a healthy pizza recipe that satisfies my standards for comfort, fun, and flavor. My most recent adventure has been perfecting paleo pizza – a task that proved to be harder that it first seemed.

When it comes to grain-free pizza, there are lots of creative options out there – and I've tried them all. Let me just spare you from trying to make ground meat into crust, a.k.a. “meat-sa”. It is essentially a very large burger and does not resemble pizza in the slightest. My gluten-free pizza crust is remarkably good, but it contains potato, rice, and corn flours that are definitely not paleo. While crusts made of nut or root flours are often passable, they almost always seem like a mediocre substitution for the real deal.

This paleo pizza on portobello caps is – by far – my favorite. The mushrooms create a perfect holder for whatever topping you can dream up. Personally I love to load them up with a flavorful Italian sausage, a simple tomato sauce, and a smattering of kale.

Portobellos add extra flavor and texture that doesn't need to apologize for it's lack of traditional crust-ness. And if you happen to be eating dairy, you can sprinkle on some grass fed mozzarella to take your pizza experience to a primal level.

Paleo pizza on portobello caps ingredients

For the crust:

• 8 portobello mushroom caps
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• coarse sea salt, to taste – this is my favorite sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste

For the toppings:

• 1 pound Italian pork sausage, from forage fed hogs
• 1 bunch of kale
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Primal option: 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

Paleo pizza on portobello caps

For the crust:

1. Preheat oven to broiling.
2. Wipe dirt off dry mushrooms, remove stems, and use a spoon to gently scrape the gills from the underside of the caps.
3. Brush olive oil inside the cap of each mushroom.
4. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and broil for 5 minutes on each side.
5. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 350F.

For the filling:

1. Mince the garlic. Remove sausage from casing. In a bowl, combine pork sausage, garlic, sea salt, and pepper. Mix with hands until thoroughly combined.
2. In a medium saucepan, cook the sausage mixture until browned (about five minutes) using a wooden spoon to break apart and turn over continuously to ensure even browning.
3. Strip leafy greens from the tough spine and discard the roughage. Finely mince the kale and steam in a small saucepan with a splash of water covered. When bright green remove from heat and set aside.
4. Gently distribute the meat mixture evenly into each mushroom cap.
5. Stir basil and oregano into the tomato sauce and pour sauce over the meat in the mushroom caps. Sprinkle on kale and optional cheese.
6. Return caps to the oven for 3-5 minutes to allow sauce to warm (and optional cheese to melt until bubbly).
7. Serve hot, or make a big batch to have for quick and easy meals throughout the week.

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