Margherita Pizza with Fresh Basil Pesto & Vegan Mozzarella
Author: 
Recipe type: Entree
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 pizzas
 
The vegan mozzarella is adapted from Vedged Out's Foxy Moxy cheese (link above)
Ingredients
  • 2 pizza crusts (prebaked or prebought)
  • 1 cup pizza sauce (marinara, tomato sauce, or the one in the link above from Vedged Out)
  • 1 large tomato, very thinly sliced
  • One batch of my Fresh Basil Pesto (link above, but recipe below):
  • ½ cup soaked cashews (soaked 8 hrs cold or 15 minutes boiling)
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • 2 cups packed basil leaves
  • Foxy Moxy vegan mozzarella (link above, but recipe below):
  • ¼ cup soaked cashews (soaked 8 rs cold or 15 minutes boiling)
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
  • 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (optional)
  • 1 small garlic clove, minced
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • *my add-in to cheese:
  • 1½ tbs nutritional yeast
  • Optional:
  • more salt and nutritional yeast
Instructions
  1. Start my preheating your oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Make your basil pesto by combining all pesto ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
  3. Now, create you cheese. Blend all ingredients together in a high speed blender until completely smooth, about 1 minute.
  4. Pour into a small saucepan and cook, stirring constantly over medium high heat. After a couple of minutes the mixture will start to look weird, like it’s curdling or separating. This is totally normal, reduce heat to medium and KEEP stirring so you don’t burn the cheese to the bottom of the pot.
  5. Keep cooking and stirring til really thick (about 2-3 more minutes) and the mixture becomes like a cohesive mass of melted dairy cheese and stretches like in the photo below. Remove from heat and let cool.
  6. Pour ½ cup tomato sauce on each pizza. Evenly distribute thinly sliced tomatoes on both pizzas.
  7. using a spoon, place spoonfuls of cheese mixture evenly over both pizzas.
  8. Finally, drizzle the basil pesto evenly over both pizzas until you run out.
  9. This part is optional, but recommended: sprinkle a little more salt and nutritional yeast over both pizzas.
  10. Place one or both pizzas in oven to bake about 20 minutes. Watch the pizzas, you want the mozzarella to brown a little on top. Serve immediately. If you choose to save the other pizza, do not cook it. Wrap tightly with saran wrap and placed in freezer until ready to bake.
Recipe by Peppers and Peaches at https://www.peppersandpeaches.com/margherita-pizza-with-fresh-basil-pesto-vegan-mozzarella/