Recipe: Vegan Thanksgiving Pizza with all the fixings!
November 26th, 2011 1:36 pm by Kelly
Vegan Thanksgiving Pizza with all the fixings! I first got the idea for a Thanksgiving pizza when I saw a photo of one available at Whole Foods. Mine is way more awesome, though: the only seasonal thing about Whole Foods’s version is that it’s topped with stuffing, whereas I went all out: mashed potatoes, gravy, Tofurky, mixed veggies, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Suck on that, John Mackey! (No really, it’s delicious! Suck and slurp and chomp away.)
In preparation for the holiday, Shane and I did a test run last week. While the finished product was yum-tastic, our execution proved less than stellar. I thought I could use the gravy as a sauce – putting it down first the way you do with red sauce – and layer the tofurky slices, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and extra gravy on top. Alas, the gravy interacted with the dough in the most heinous of ways, softening it up and causing it to lose its structure and integrity. Meanwhile, spreading the mashed potatoes on top of the Tofurky was an exercise in futility (the gravy made ’em slip and slide!), and as an added bonus, the weight of the potatoes forced the gravy out and down the sides of the pizza. (Gravy everywhere!) By the time we got to the top layer, we were in such a hurry that we only added carrots instead of our planned trio of veggies. ’twas hot, delicious mess all around.
For our second attempt, we mixed the mashed potatoes with the gravy so the base layer of the pizza would be thicker and – hopefully – more stable. We also made them well ahead of time, so that they’d be nice and cool by the time we actually assembled the pizza. And it worked! Although spreading mashed potatoes on pizza dough is a little messy no matter how you slice it, it was a huge improvement over our first try. This vegan Thanksgiving pizza features a layer of garlic and chive mashed potatoes mixed with gravy, followed by Tofurky deli slices, a light drizzle of gravy, and carrots, sweet corn and green beans. (The only thing I’d do different in the future is put the Tofurky down before the mashed potatoes, so that the slices don’t get so crispy.)
We wanted to incorporate stuffing into the pizza, but couldn’t think of a way to cook it on the pie, since the breadcrumbs need to bake in vegetable broth and all. So instead we gave the crust a hint of stuffing flavor by infusing it with veggie broth. And, for good measure: we served stuffing on the side, along with cranberry sauce, extra gravy, and mashed potatoes and mixed veggies (both leftover toppings from the pizza). Dessert featured a razzleberry pie topped with a scoop (or two!) of vanilla soy ice cream. Both store-bought, because we were exhausted enough after making the main course!
Too many carbs? NEVER.
More eye candy – and recipes for most everything pictured! – below.
while waiting for the dough to rise! But I digress…
a) covered in mashed potatoes or b) a deep dish pie of some kind.
