Pizza

I love to eat pizza.  To me it makes a great meal hot, or dare I say it, cold and since I started making them from scratch they taste so much better.  As a vegetarian who cannot eat tomatoes I am usually unable to eat pizza unless I make it myself.  What I call pizza and what the rest of the world calls pizza is probably not the same thing!

So when I wanted to make my own pizza I had to get creative with the topping after trying mushrooms, slow cooked onions, pesto and spinach, I decided that spinach made the best topping.  I wilted it with a little onion and a dash of nutmeg and spread it on top, hey presto a tasty alternative, but there is a down side you need a lot of spinach to make a pizza topping.  No problem I will grow my own........or maybe I won't.  I have successfully grown many veggies over the years but spinach has been a spectacular failure, I have no problem getting it to germinate but it never grows more than a couple of inches high before it bolts.  I have tried growing several different varieties outside, in the polytunnel, in full sun, in full shade and variations of in between but nah it doesn't want to grow into a plant with leaves that I can actually harvest.  So the spinach for my pizza has to be bought either fresh or occasionally frozen which means we don't eat it as often as I like.

I plan a menu each week and buy the ingredients I don't have in the house to cook the meals.  One week I had planned pizza and didn't put the spinach on my shopping list.  I make the dough in my bread maker and had started that off, I had chopped some onion and was gently frying them went to the fridge for the spinach ah none there a quick ratch in the freezer none there either, I needed some inspiration.  I had kale growing in the garden in abundance that would do, possibly? I de stalked it, shredded it finely and wilted it in the pan with the onions spread it on top of the pizza base topped with mozarella and hey presto a pizza!  The topping does not stick to the base like other toppings do as it is fairly dry.

It does taste delicious, in my book, the kale gets slightly crispy at the edges which is ok because crispy kale is really tasty, ever tried kale chips?  That is what you get at the edges, so two meals in one.  What is more my eldest who up until then had declared he didn't like kale now loves the stuff, so it was a great way to introduce him to a new food!

Kale Pizza

Base - made in breadmaker using:
3/4 tsp dried yeast
300g whole meal flour
1/2 tbsp sugar
15g butter
1 tbsp milk powder
1 tsp salt
160ml water

Topping
1 onion
10g butter
Approx 500g Kale
125g Mozarella

Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7

Finely chop the onion,  melt the butter in a large frying or sauté pan and gently fry the onions until clear.

De stalk the kale leaves and cut into fine strips, add to the pan and cook gently until thoroughly wilted.

Roll out the base to desired size and spread the kale and onion over the top.

Cut the mozarella into slices and place on top.

Cook in oven for 15 minutes.

Serves 4

This recipe has been added to the Shop Local #3 Challenge over at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.