Pizza Express – where we made a 500 calorie pizza

Me making pizza

They say the donut was invented several centuries ago, so why did it take until the 21^st century for a pizza with a hole in the middle?

Finally Pizza Express answered the call of inspiration and introduced its Leggera range in 2009 – pizzas with a hole in the middle, filled with salad. Such a perfect solution to a pizza meal. The thin crust is inspired by a classic fresella bread from Naples. Then there’s cheesy, saucey yumminess served up with crispy leaves, only 500 calories.

Now Pizza Express has improved the Leggera even more: they stretch the dough for a crispier base, the salad in the middle is rocket and ricotta salata dressed with balsamic syrup. The best thing for me is the addition of my favourite toppings: pepperoni and jalapenos aka the American Hot.

Earlier this year BritMums went along to a blogger evening where we got to try the new topping combinations – proscuitto cotto ham and portabello mushrooms; goat’s cheese, spinach and carmelised onions; chicken, peppers and Cajun spices; and of course the classic margherita. All at 500 calories.

I tried my hand at rolling out and throwing a Leggera pizza base. It’s harder than it looks and let’s just say third time was not a charm.

Veggie Experience, CazRoz, and Mediocre Mum making pizzas

Bloggers @veggieexperience, @Cazroz, @mediocremum did a proper Italian job on their versions. There was a man-about-town blogger who carefully and studiously patted out a perfect circle while I somehow kept managing to make rectangles. Trust me when I say it’s best to leave this bit to the experts.

The real question however is whether a 500-calorie pizza is still, well, pizza. Or is it like those low-calorie biscuits that you eat 20 of because they’re so unsatisfying.

In fact, the Leggera does taste like a real pizza experience because of ingredients that combine spicy flavours, umami, protein, sweet and sharp. And because all this adds up to fewer pizza calories than usual, you can also add in a glass of wine, dough balls (the crack equivalent on the Pizza Express menu) or tiramisu.

A few weeks after our pizza-making session, I tried the new Leggera at my local restaurant. I asked to replace the ricotta salata on the salad with parmesan, and the American Hot was exactly as advertised: tasty, spicy…with a hole in the middle.

Read the Veggie Experience’s review of the vegetarian options.

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About Jennifer Howze

Jennifer Howze is the Creative Director and co-founder of BritMums. She blogs about family travel at Jenography.net, tweets at @JHowze and Instagrams at @JHowze. Previously, she wrote the Alpha Mummy blog at The Times and as a journalist has contributed to The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, Budget Travel, CNN.com, Allure, SELF and Premiere, among others. She won The Maggie Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for a health article in Seventeen magazine.

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