Garlic Kale Pizza

My girlfriend is really into pizza.  So much so that whenever i have leftovers or produce that needs cooked up I think about it in pizza form.  We have also, along with most health conscious people, been on a serious kale kick.  After weeks of loving our kale pal in salads, smoothies, and sautes, I decided to try it in pizza form. I cooked the kale in the traditional method, with lots of garlic, some onion and bacon fat (you could use a couple of pieces of bacon on there but I found this pizza rich and creamy and delicious enough with out it).   Then I made a thick pizza dough to hold the delicious green mess and a creamy bechamel with grated Percino and a whole head of roasted garlic.


The Basics:

1. Make pizza dough, double the recipe for a thick crust.

 2.Cook a whole bunch of chopped up kale with 5-6 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, paprika and a medium onion in bacon fat in your trusty cast iron skillet (or saute' pan) until soft. 

3.Make white sauce/bechamel sauce  add grated Percino and a whole head of roasted garlic, salt, pepper, whisk together for the sauce. 

4. Build incredible pizza. Lay out the dough, add half the sauce, add the cooked kale, pour on the rest of the sauce. Bake at 450 for about 15 mins. Enjoy. 



Recipe:
Basic Pizza Dough:
1.5 c. whole wheat flour
1.5 tsp kosher salt 
1 tbs. olive oil
1/2 to 1 c. warm water
1 tsp. yeast
1 tbs. honey

Method:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2.Mix  half cup of water with yeast and honey. Let sit 5-10 minutes until yeast is proofed. 
3. Mix proofed yeast and olive oil into the dry ingredients.
4. Begin to mix and knead the mixture for 1 minute, adding water if necessary, cover and set aside for 5 minutes
5. Begin to knead the dough again.  Letting the dough sit for this time should make kneading easier.  Knead the dough until it is a springy tight ball and looks like this: 

6. Cover dough for an 30 mins to an hour. 
7. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
8. Press air out of dough reform a nice ball and let sit another 20-30 min.



Recipe:
Kale:
2 tbs. bacon fat or olive oil
1 bunch of kale
1 medium onion
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. paprika (optional)


Method:
1. Put 1-2 tbs of bacon fat in a pan on medium heat.
2. Add 5-6 cloves chopped garlic and chopped onion
3. Add chopped kale (cut around the vein and into 1-2 inch pieces)

4. Season with salt, pepper, and a tsp. of paprika if that's to your taste.
5. Cook until kale is somewhat tender.  Remember this is also going into a 450 degree oven for 15 min.







 
Recipe:
White Sauce/Bechamel sauce:
4 tbs butter
3 tbs white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
2 tbs grated Percino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 head roasted garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (optional)


Method:
1. In your preheating oven place a head of garlic on a flat pan and roast for 10 min, until the head is soft
2. In a sauce pan melt the butter
3. Add flour and stir with a fork until slightly brown, 2-4 min.
4. Slowly add milk and stir until mixture thickens.  If the mixture is too thick slowly add more milk a small amount at a time.
5. Add grated cheese and stir until melted
6. Take the head of garlic and extract the soften cloves.  Mash with a fork and add to the sauce, mixing well.
7. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste.


Assembling the Mess:
1. Lay out the dough into a reasonable pizza shape.  Often my pizza's are irregular or rectangular.  I have one nice pizza pan that I try to fit the dough to, but often I just use cookie sheets and lay it out best I can. 

2. Add half of the white sauce, spreading it evenly over the dough

3. Spread the cooked kale evenly over the sauce

4. Add the remaining sauce

5. Cook for 15 minutes in a 450 degree oven.



ENJOY!!!!


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