Now I love pizzas. If I was to have a last meal it would most likely be a pizza of some sort. The downside however, is that pizza does not love me. Most pizzas are very greasy – especially the takeaway variety – and when you’re trying to focus more on your health and eating a bit more rigidly to achieve fitness goals, a pizza can undo a whole weeks worth of work. But even with that knowledge, there is a part of my soul that craves pizza ever so often.
Usually I make my own pizza but quite frankly…I couldn’t be bothered. So I went for the middle ground between healthy homemade and super greasy takeaway: A frozen pizza. Annoyingly my local Zizzi’s closed at the start of the pandemic lockdowns so I haven’t actually had a Zizzi is almost 3 years at this point. There are some nearby to where I live but they all involve taking the train or a 30 minute drive and while the pizzas are good, I can do without that amount of travel. I therefore jumped at the chance to finally try one of their frozen pizzas.
I have to say, this does not taste like a frozen pizza. The base didn’t crisp up as much as they do when it’s freshly cooked in the restaurant, but it was still a very satisfying pizza. The cheese was wonderfully melted without being watery (as can tend to happen with frozen pizzas) and the taste was subtle. The jackfruit pepperoni gave a nice little kick against the cheese and really did remind me of pepperoni. The dough was slightly chewy around the crust, but i think that may be an issue with my oven rather than an issue of the actual product. The base did get crispy and thankfully didn’t go all soggy in the middle the way many frozen pizzas can do once cooked.
It did also come with the chili oil that is on offer at Zizzi restaurants. Now…I went a bit overboard with this in my excitement. I had never tried it in a restaurant before so did not expect it to be as hot as it was. Yes, I am a pansy when it comes to spice, but I do enjoy a fair amount of heat once in a while. I put a good sprinkle of this onto one bite and nearly burnt my whole mouth off. So…be warned that this chili oil packs a really big punch. I had some restraint with the rest of the pizza though and a generous drizzle over the pizza really did add a lovely extra flavour to the pizza. The cheese did seem to placate a lot of the heat of the oil, but then the jackfruit gave you that little kick. None of it left a burning sensation in my mouth when eaten together, and that’s really all I ask of my chili and heat.
This pizza cost me £4 which I have to say is very reasonable. It definitely did not taste like a microwave pizza and yet it isn’t priced like a high end option. I have seen others that are around £10 and I’ve always wondered whether that price would ever be worth it for what is essentially a frozen meal. Now if you were to make it yourself it probably would be cheaper, but I don’t think by much – you’d probably only save yourself £1 overall – and for the sheer convenience of this meal, I would definitely make sure to have this in your freezer for those emergency days where protein, rice and broccoli simply won’t cut it.
Taylor Talks Vegan 