The following "recipe" is an idea that came to fruition in less than two weeks, nothing short of miraculous for me. I generally opt for la-la land, an imaginary place where my creations are wholly unique, often produced, and loved by all. They just never enter the realm of reality.
Speaking of which, reality sort of sucks. I work long hours, sometimes 12 hour days, and find myself uninspired to cook and mainly just ready for bed. I need to create a cooking schedule for myself so I know to make time ahead of time. I need a stunt double, only one who limits themselves on the stunts and excels in the kitchen. I mean we have limited space you know.
Comfort food without the guilt, on a pizza
I'm not a super health nut. I eat my fair share of fat and sugar. I don't feel guilty about this.
This recipe was conceived of before I became vegan, in the final year where I was slowly realising cheese shouldn't play such a primary role in my meals. I was keeping my animal fats to a minimum. Cancer, diabetes, and heart disease run in my family so while I still consumed dairy, I was still careful.
The idea of a full-fat cheese pizza even then made my stomach feel week, making pizza a once-in-a-blue-moon treat because I knew it would only leave me feeling weighed down for the rest of the day. But then I started thinking "ah, but why should a pizza be tomatoes and cheese?!" And this sos and mash pizza was born out of these thoughts.
A great way to deal with leftovers
I don't know about you, but root vegetables always seem to accumulate in my pile of stuff to use up. They sit around in quantities not quite large enough to feed two people, so they continue to sit around a little longer. Then there's the packages of things, like veggie sausages, that come in three or five (yes, I cheated and got these at the store. Usually I like to make my own), so there's always one or two left over.
Never mind. This vegan sos and mash "pizza" is a great way to use up any leftover root veg. Boil 'em and mash 'em and there's your base for a unique pizza.
The components of a sos and mash pizza
There's no need for a recipe for this. If you need a recipe, find your favourite pizza recipe and use it as a guide! There are 3 basic components to this pizza:
- Pizza base, bought or home-made
- A thick gravy (think the consistency of a tomato sauce for pizza)
- Mashed potato (give it some flavour by mashing it with some soy milk plus garlic, chives, butter, and/or other favourite mash ingredients...)
- Veg sausages, sliced and lightly fried
I'm confident you can work out how to put it together, but just for reference the stack goes base + gravy + mash + sausage. Bake following the directions for your pizza base.
I know this isn't particularly exciting, but it's a fun and unique take on the traditional British sausage and mash dinner. It's fun to eat, filling, and very tasty. I definitely plan to make this again, but next time I might add a little sweet potato to the mix!
CarrieP says
Very clever! I like the interperetation of Bangers and Mash.
Now, tell me truly: What does vegan sausage taste like? I've got an open mind but tend to be rather fearful of vegan meat and dairy substitutes.
Kip says
How did I not reply to this?!
Lots of people I've heard say the sausages are better, worse, the same. It's been so long since I've had meat that I don't know what a "real" sausage tastes like, but anyone who's had my homemade veggies sausages never complains. I've had many people tell me they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Kip says
To be honest I've been vegetarian for 16 years now, so I couldn't tell you what a vegan or vegetarian one tasted like compared to a meat one! My husband, however, who isn't quite veggie yet, says taste-wise they are very similar. The obvious difference is not having the casing to add that extra texture. A lot of vegan meat substitutes don't taste like the thing they claim to replace, but that doesn't mean they don't taste nice. Sausages seem to be a close one though, according to my sources (I'd be willing to wager it's because most meat sausages contain hardly any mean and the flavour comes from salt and herbs). 🙂
Jude says
Looks good to me and I would love to try it, vegan or not. Sometimes I get surprised when told that I'm enjoying something that's vegan. I really should get rid of that bias.
Dining Room says
Hmm.. what a good idea alternative pizza made from vegetables. I am a slight vegetarian and would like to try that I'm glad that I have everything needed By the way, have you heard about Lion's Deal? the online kitchen and restaurant equipment store? They've got lots of great discount in their web site! Just enter the coupon code on the checkout page to get the discount ' online 10' which will give 8-10% off everything on the entire website with a minimum $50 order.
I reserve the right to improve malicious and trollish comments.