Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza w Blue Cheese @SaucyMamaCafe

Saucy Mama is having a recipe contest—they invited twenty-five bloggers to participate and I am one of them. Fun! I've actually never entered a recipe competition, so I was super excited. I was doubly excited when I received a box of yummy sauces to experiment with in the kitchen. 

Ever since the success of my Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, I knew I wanted to play more with the combination of cauliflower and hot sauce. This was my opportunity! Then came my lightbulb moment: Buffalo Cauliflower on top of pizza. With blue cheese. And then some more cheese. And some blue cheese dressing. This was me at that moment of inspiration. 

And, let me tell you, it's even more delicious than I expected. Try it. Seriously.

Looks like Buffalo Chicken pizza, right?

Ingredients
serves 2 to 4 for main course or 6 to 8 for appetizer

• 1 pizza dough (homemade—I used this one from The Kitchn—or store bought)
• 1 small head of cauliflower, or about 5 cups of florets
• 1 Tbls + 2 tsp ghee (or extra virgin olive oil)
• 1/4 cup Saucy Mama Honey Barbecue Wing Sauce
• 1/4 cup Saucy Mama Hot Wing Sauce
• about 3 Tbsp very thinly-sliced celery, plus additional for garnish
• a few thin slices of red onion, halved 
• 1 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend but sharp cheddar would also work well)
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese 
• salt and pepper

Yogurt Blue Cheese Dip

(adapted from my Yogurt Gorgonzola Dip)

• 1 cup plain Greek Yogurt
• 2/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 Tbls chopped scallions
• salt and freshly-ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put pizza pan or baking sheet in oven to heat.

Remove any leaves from your cauliflower and trim the stem. Cut into small, olive-sized pieces. 

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of ghee (aka clarified butter); you could use oil instead, but I like the classic pairing of butter with hot sauce for wings, so I went with it. Add a pinch of salt and some freshly-ground pepper.

Add cauliflower and toss until the floret pieces are coated in the butter.  Let the cauliflower sit for a couple of minutes, so it can begin to brown; stir again, letting it sear a bit more. The whole process should take about five minutes—you want some nice caramelization and a nutty smell, but you still want the cauliflower to have some bite, since it will cook more on the pizza. Once the cauliflower is roasted, toss with the Hot Wing Sauce, so that all the cauliflower is well-coated.

Roll the pizza dough out on parchment paper, forming a very thin, large rectangle; brush with the two teaspoons of melted ghee. Prick the dough all over with a fork—this will prevent it from rising too much.

Drizzle the Honey Barbecue Sauce over the dough and spread evenly; if you want a much spicier pizza, use the Hot Wings sauce instead of the Barbecue on the dough. Sprinkle the celery around the pizza, then top with the cauliflower and sliced red onions.

Sprinkle the cheeses over the pizza.

Using the parchment paper, slide the pizza onto the preheated pizza pan. Bake 15 minutes, or until crisp. In the meantime, assemble your blue cheese dressing: in a bowl, combine yogurt, cheese, garlic, lemon juice and scallions. Add salt and pepper to taste, keeping in mind that the cheeses and sauces on the pizza already provide a bunch of salt!

Ooh, so spicy and cheesy and yummy.

You can drizzle some extra sauce over the pizza and sprinkle on some additional chopped celery. And serve that Yogurt Blue Cheese Dip on the side! Trust me, people.

Or, if you're like me and you like messy, gooey, comfort food...dollop some of that blue cheese dip right on top. And then CHOW DOWN.

Thanks, Saucy Mama!