Recipe Makeovers

Pizza

When pizza is made the traditional Italian way it not only tastes delicious but it contains less calories and more nutrients than regular fast food pizza.

Pizza, when it's made in a traditional way, has little resemblance to the pizza available in most fast food outlets. These pizzas are usually topped with lots of meat, lots of cheese, very few vegetables, and are served on a thick doughy crust.

Compare this to a traditionally prepared pizza which contains little or no meat, moderate amounts of good quality cheese, fish or seafood like anchovies or shrimp, a variety of vegetables and fresh herbs, and served on a thin crisp crust.

In fact, when pizza is made in a traditional way like this, it not only makes a wonderful meal (especially when it's served with a fresh tossed salad and little red wine) it's also very good for your body as well.

The tomato sauce that is spread over the crust is rich in vitamins and contains a powerful phytochemical called lycopene which protects against certain cancers. The vegetables on the pizza are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fiber. By choosing fish like anchovies or seafood like shrimp on your pizza instead of meaty toppings you get lots of good quality protein without the high saturated fat content. Fish and shellfish are also a good source of health-promoting omega-3 fat. The crust supplies your body with energy-giving carbohydrates, B-vitamins and dietary fiber. And because the pizza isn't drowned in cheese you get the benefits of the protein and calcium it contains without ingesting too much saturated fat.

So pizza, prepared the right way, can be good for you. But that's little surprise because so many of the traditional foods eaten throughout the Mediterranean and Asia taste good and are also good for you. That's what makes this way of eating so easy to live with!

Ordering your own

The recipe I'm about to show you for pizza is easy to prepare at home. But sometimes you might not even have the time to prepare this simple recipe. That's fine because you can just follow the principles of a traditionally prepared pizza when you order a pizza from a fast food outlet. Simply make sure to order your pizza on a thin base, tell them to halve the cheese and double the vegetables and choose a fish or seafood topping (like anchovies, shrimp, tuna, smoked salmon, smoked oysters, clams, calamari) instead of a meaty topping. If you do choose to have meat on your pizza, use it sparingly by telling them to halve the amount. Diced chicken is another low saturated fat alternative to meat on your pizza.

How to make a healthy pizza

Before I show you step-by-step how to create your own healthy pizza at home let's have a look at the nutrient comparison between a slice of typical fast food pizza and a slice of our healthier version:

What a difference! For a start there's almost half the amount of calories in our version, which means you'll fill up on our pizza without filling out. Because the pizza contains no meat and we haven't gone overboard with the cheese, a slice of this pizza contains four times less potentially harmful saturated fat than a regular pizza. Our traditional-style pizza also contains more dietary fiber than a regular pizza and just as much protein.

Here's how to make this pizza at home. This recipe makes 1 pizza, or enough for 2-3 people.

Finely dice ½ a red pepper (capsicum), finely slice a quarter of a red onion, finely chop 1 tablespoon of fresh flat-leaf parsley, and halve 5 pitted black olives

Cut 2½ oz (75g) of mozzarella cheese into very small cubes.

Mix together ½ clove of crushed garlic, 3 tablespoons of chopped canned tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and ½ teaspoon of sea salt in a small bowl.

Spread the tomato sauce over 1 store-bought pre-baked pizza crust (about 12-inches in diameter and thin crust). Alternatively use a large whole grain pita bread as the crust.

Top the pizza with 8 large peeled raw shrimp and 8 scallops (roe removed).

Arrange the sliced onion, finely diced pepper and halved olives evenly over the pizza.

Evenly place the cubed mozzarella cheese over the top of the pizza.

Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F and place the pizza on the oven baking rack and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a tablespoon of lemon juice, a little freshly ground black pepper and the chopped parsley. Cut into 8 slices to serve.

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