With all the great vegan cheese products available now, there's no reason to let being vegan get in the way of delicious cheesy pesto pizza. **I used the Roasting Pan Method to bake it.
INGREDIENTS
(Vegan Pesto)
2 packed cups fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup vegan parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
(Pizza)
Premade pizza dough or homemade pizza dough
1/2 cup vegan ricotta cheese(Kite Hill)
1 cup vegan parmesan cheese, shredded
4 oz vegan mozzarella, shredded
2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp chili flakes
DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare the dough or use store bought dough.
2. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 475°F for 30 minutes. Or use Roasting Pan method.
3. Prepare pesto by placing basil leaves and pine nuts into a food processor and pulse several times. Add garlic and vegan parmesan and pulse several times more scraping down the sides with a spatula. Add the olive oil and process until emulsified. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper then pulse until combined.
4. Spread as much pesto as you like over pizza dough, saving remaining pesto for another use. Sprinkle vegan ricotta cheese over pesto followed by vegan parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Place tomatoes over cheeses. Drizzle a couple of drops of extra virgin olive oil onto tomato slices then sprinkle with Italian seasonings. Sprinkle chili flakes over entire pizza if using then finish with a pinch of sea salt.
5. Bake 13 to 15 minutes (15 to 16 minutes for roasting pan method). **If using pan pizza method, let stand 5 minutes before using knife to cut around edge and spatula to remove to cutting board.
