Kale Salad Pizza

Time for an off-the-beaten-path pizza. You'll like it, I promise.

A few months ago, I got to know 101 Cookbook's raw tuscan kale salad recipe. It immediately became one of our favorite dishes and we've made it regularly this winter. I mean FAVORITE and REGULARLY. It's that good.

As it turns out, we often eat it with pizza. So one day I thought, why not put the salad ON the pizza. I mean, pizza is just bread, so anything that's good with bread should be good on a pizza, right?

ABSOLUTELY right. 

First, make a batch of kale salad, either following the recipe above, or using our version here. (Omit the bread crumbs from the original recipe; there's enough bread as it is.)

For the dressing, crush 2 garlic cloves with 1/2 tsp. sea salt to make a paste. Add 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 tsp cayenne and a healthy pinch of freshly ground black pepper. Feel free to adjust the amounts to suit your own tastes.

Wash one bunch of raw kale and slice into ribbons. Toss with half to three-quarters of the dressing. The dressing is thick, so it takes a lot of tossing. Save the rest of the dressing for the pizza.

Build the pizza this way:

1. Whole wheat crust, rolled very thin and par-baked
2. A very thin layer of the leftover salad dressing. Wait to put on the dressing until you have all of the other ingredients prepped to avoid making the crust soggy.
3. Dollops of diced tomatoes (fresh tomato slices would be even better when they're in season)
4. Grated mozzarella
5. Sliced roasted red peppers

Put all of that in the oven for about 6 minutes at 450 degrees, until the cheese is melted and the crust is just starting to brown. Then layer a generous spread of kale salad on the top and return to the oven for 1 minute. The kale should wilt slightly and get warm, but still basically be raw.

It's a 5-star pizza for sure.