Portobello mushroom pizzas.

This is a little recipe of mine that I have been experimenting with over the past 2 weeks, chopping and changing and trying to improve the taste each time I make it. As I may have mentioned before, I LOVE pizza. It's my takeaway of choice. A big, fat cheese pizza with a BBQ sauce base is normally my choice, but I also love a good cheesy tuna topped pizza. Every now and again it is good to treat yourself to little naughty foods, such as pizza. But it's very easy to let it get out of control. Moderation is key. But you can remake a much healthier version of your favourite pizza at home. Replace the doughy base for portobello mushrooms! Simple as that. It may sound a bit small compared to the size of a regular takeaway pizza, and it is, but it really does make up for it in taste, and can be surprisingly filling too. I chose to remake my much loved cheesy tuna topping for my portobello mushroom pizzas, and here's what I did:

This recipe serves 4 people, approx. 75 kcal per mushroom pizza.

Ingredients:
- 4 large portobello mushrooms
- 2 salad tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 (approx. 40g) red pepper, finely diced
- 1/4 (approx. 25g) red onion, finely diced
- 1/2 a 140g tin of tuna chunks in brine, drained and flaked up
- 30g "lighter"/low-fat cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 tbsp virgin olive oil, for drizzling (optional)

After placing the toppings on the mushrooms, you may find you won't need to use all of the toppings. Don't worry! I didn't use them all up either. Read at the bottom of this recipe a way that you could use up the leftovers.

If the toppings on this pizza don't take your fancy, you could try these:
You can recreate almost any of your favourite pizza toppings to go on your portobello mushrooms bases. You could top one with diced tomatoes, grated cheddar and mozzarella cheese and, once cooked, add some basil leaves and a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top for a margherita pizza. You could add a little sliced up pepperoni and sausage and a little squeeze of BBQ sauce on top of some diced tomato and grated cheese for a meaty pizza. And of course sliced up ham, pineapple and sweetcorn on top of diced tomato and grated cheese for a Hawaiian pizza. Get creative & see what other tasty pizza toppings you can come up with!

Method:

1. Preheat the grill to 180°c. Prep a suitable tray with foil (as the mushrooms will produce a watery liquid as they cook).

2. Carefully pull out the stalk of the mushroom. This next bit is optional: (I chose to do it as I feel the outside covers over a lot of the centre part, which you need to fill). Peel all of the portobello mushrooms' "skin" off (see photo). Now wash them with some water.

3. Place the mushrooms, cap side facing upwards (see photo), onto the tray and cook under the grill for about 5-7 minutes. Once done, take them out and carefully turn them over, ready to be filled.

4. Now fill them evenly with the tomatoes, as the base layer. Now sprinkle a tiny bit of the cheese and then top with the red pepper and red onion (before putting these on, I mixed them both together - you don't have to do this, but I found it easier). Spread the tuna on top & then finally sprinkle all of the remaining cheese over them. Pat/push down the toppings gently after each layer so that nothing is just balancing on top.

5. Place them under the grill for approx. 10-20 minutes (depending on how well your grill grills, mine's rubbish!), until the cheese is melted/golden and it's piping hot throughout. If using, drizzle a little bit of extra virgin olive oil over the top. Serve immediately with a side salad or some homemade potato chips/wedges.

If you have leftover toppings, as I did, you can use those towards making another delicious meal. I had tuna, tomato and a little bit of onion and pepper left over. So I put it all in a bowl, added a dollop of low-fat mayonnaise and stirred it all together, and now you have a tasty sandwich/wrap filling. I filled mine into a wholemeal wrap, grated over 10g of low-fat cheese, folded it up and stuck it in my health grill for 2 minutes. It was absolutely delicious and the flavours taste great together. The filling also tastes good cold and still tastes nice without the cheese. You could also use it as a jacket potato filling. If you have no tuna leftover, you could use the diced veggies to create a chunky salsa. You could add in a freshly chopped chilli for some heat and maybe some avocado for some taste and texture. Stir it all up together with a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.