Low-carb Courgette Pizza

The vegetable base of this pizza is good if you're wanting to avoid carbs and, while nothing like wheat dough, is very tasty.

Ingredients:

• 1 red pepper, whole
• a 390g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 500g of courgettes (about 4 normal sized), coarsely grated
• 1 tsp finely ground salt
• 1 large egg
• 60g mild cheddar cheese, finely grated
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 80g feta, crumbled
• 1 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 8 black olives, sliced

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
2. Use a blowtorch, gas hob or grill to burn the pepper all over. You want the skin to be utterly black. Place in a plastic bag while still hot and steal in the steam. This will make it easier to peel.
3. Place the chopped tomatoes in a sieve placed over a bowl and leave for the juice to drain out.
4. Mix the grated courgette with the salt and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
5. Use a muslin or cheese cloth to squeeze out as much liquid as you can from the grated courgette.
6. Mix the courgette, egg, cheddar cheese and mixed herbs together in a bowl.
7. Place a sheet of grease proof paper on a baking tray and spread out the courgette mixture into a circle about 4 mm thick.
8. Place in the oven for 12 minutes, or until it starts to brown at the edges.
9. While it's cooking in the oven, use your fingers to rub the burnt skin off the pepper while running it under a cold tap.
10. Slice the skin of the pepper into bite size pieces.
11. Remove the pizza base from the oven and top with the chopped tomatoes, followed by the feta and then the red onion, black olives and skinned pepper. You won't need to use all the ingredients as toppings unless you really like your pizzas with lots of toppings.
12. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
13. Carefully slide the grease proof paper from under the pizza or serve it directly from the paper. Trim any burnt liquid from the edges before cutting into slices and serving.

Serves 2.