The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

wholepie · Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 2 Location: OC California

Need some advice on what to use instead of cheese on a pizza. My friend will not partake so I am trying to make one that would be delicious without cheese. Thanks for any suggestions.

dfandreatta · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 7:45 pm Post subject:

You didn't say why your friend would not care for cheese... is it because of it being an "animal" product, "lactose intolerance" or because they just don't like cheese?

Inquiring minds need to know. Hate to offer an alternative that would be equally as offensive!

wholepie · Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 2 Location: OC California

Unfortunately my friend will not even try tasting new recipes that have cheese - at 90 yrs I don't think I am going to be able to convince otherwise. Just a bad experience way, way, way back - nothing to do with dietary restrictions of any kind. Believe me I have tried changing the situation. There are so many good recipes that cheese is essential.

dfandreatta · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:23 pm Post subject:

I think the next step would be to ask what the friend would consider... "What do you like?"

I have a cousin who is French, who will eat no "cooked" cheeses.... if you know which way to go with this, it makes it easier. Possibly your friend has an aversion to any cheese, or to pizza in general, for some reason. Perhaps you could find out what that is.

When I was younger, I never cared for mushrooms. I also did not "like" muskmellon. Why? I don't know. Now, I enjoy them both. What made the difference? I don't know. And, I used to be OK with the canned varietyof mushrooms, but now I only care for fresh portabellas, either the "baby" ones or the larger variety.

In the final analysis, you can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead!

"Papa Don"
Tampa, Florida

Vince120 · Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 38

Hi Wholepie

Lets look at what cheese does and maybe we can find an awnser. Cheese on pizza provides flavor, texture, richness, and actually holds toppings down while moving and eating the pizza. What comes to mind first is a good, thick bashamele' sauce that can be lightly flavored. That is 2T butter, 2T flour, 1 1/2 cup milk or half&half, good pinch garlic powder and a small dash of cayenne pepper. Salt and pepper to taste. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, when it foams, add the flour and stir until a paste forms, about 1 minutes. Add milk and seasonings, bring to simmer, cook until thickened, about 3 minutes. Cool and use in place of cheese but don't pile it on quite as thick as cheese. Experiment with different flavoring as you and your friend see fit. Good pizza baking!

Vinny

urmaniac13 · Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 9 Location: Rome, Italy

Actually, there are quite a few pizza variations without cheese in Italy. For example, one of the most basic pizza varieties, "Marinara" is simply with tomatoes, italian herbs and garlic.

Our personal favourite is a pizza with shredded onion and bell peppers with olives and capers. If you slice the vegetables very thin, no precooking is necessary, they will roast themselves nicely while the pizza dough is cooking. For seasoning, italian herb mixture and extra virgine olive oil, and go very easy on salt, as capers are quite salty, even after rinsing out.

Also the potato pizza is tasty, too... again slice the potatoes very thin, preferably with mandolin. lay the slices down evenly on the pizza, dress with rosemary, garlic powder, salt and extra virgine oil.

***these last two recipes are pizza bianca (white pizza) variations, therefore no tomatoes/tomato sauce required!!
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Licia/Forza Azzurri x sempre!