Skip to main content

Swiss Chard / Artichoke Pizza

So good, you'll be ok with burning your mouth.

Among the life lessons that I've learned from Cassadie's blog is this: When presented with farm-fresh swiss chard, one makes this pizza. And so when I scored some beautiful chard at the farmer's market yesterday, I knew what had to be done.

Can you identify this green without reading the next paragraph?

I'd also bought a bunch of carrots at the market, and the tops were so beautiful that I googled to see how they might be used in cooking. Turns out they're like parsley. Carrot-flavored parsley. Absolutely delicious. So I chopped up this monstrosity of carrot tops and added about a third of it to the chard greens. (The rest of it was divided between a batch of garlic-and-carrot-top labneh and my first venture into homemade hummus.)

When my family started ordering Pizzeli's Pizza when I was in high school, I remember protesting that I didn't like the crunchiness of the crust, which they seemed to coat in cornmeal. But I suppose it grew on me, because now this is the way I make my pizza. I just spray some olive oil on the baking sheet and then dump about 1/4 cup of cornmeal on top and tilt the sheet until it's fairly evenly coated. When you're ready to put the pizza dough down, just be sure to roll/stretch it BEFORE putting it down on the prepared baking sheet, or you'll have a big mess of cornmeal intertwined with your dough.

Aside from the addition of carrot tops, cornmeal, and a few extra garlic cloves (because clearly 4-6 wasn't enough) I stuck with Farmgirl Fare's recipe. It's pretty perfect.

The pile of chard leaves partially obscures the massive pile of garlic.

Chard stems and red onion. Hmm, red pepper flakes could be added at this stage...

(There's no photo of the completed chard mixture because I was getting too excited about completing this pizza and eating it.)

Ready to crunchify the pizza crust.

Jess was hovering over me at this point to get it cut and onto the table.


The Recipe:
Pizza dough (I bought mine from Market of Choice)
8oz mozzarella, shredded
3 tb olive oil
1 c onion, chopped
6+ cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch swiss chard, leaves and stalks separated and both chopped
1/2 c carrot greens (optional)
14 oz artichoke hearts, chopped into small pieces
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
3/4 c parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 c cornmeal (optional)
  • Saute onion and chard stalks in olive oil until soft (6-8 minutes)
  • Add garlic and saute about 2 minutes
  • Add chard leaves, carrot greens, and artichoke hearts. 
  • Cover and stir occasionally for 10 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat. Mix in the worcestershire sauce and parmesan.
  • Prepare your baking sheet or pizza stone by your favorite method or by spreading out cornmeal for a crunchy crust. Put your rolled-out pizza dough on it.
  • Spread out the chard mixture across the entire dough.
  • Top with mozzarella.
  • Cook according to your dough's instructions. (I did 425 degrees for 15 minutes.)

The Verdict:
Overall grade: A+
Overall reason: The flavors of the vegetables shine, but it would also be appealing to someone who doesn't think they like swiss chard.
Time to prepare: About an hour
Husband quote: "Just... another... half of a slice..."







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kitchen renovation!

BEFORE: AFTER: Still to come: a beautiful new induction range and some wood shelving on the left side, above the backsplash. And maybe the shelving unit on the wall facing the cabinets should be green, but we're going to live with a while before making that decision.
2 comments
Read more

Red lentil dal

Cucumber salad is key. This dal is perfect. Most of us took seconds, and I'm really excited to eat the last portion that's sitting in the fridge right now. The accompanying salad is really great for adding texture, crunch, and acidity to the meal. I wouldn't skip it. I got it from  Tea for Turmeric  and prepared it pretty much as written, but doubled and with none of the optional ingredients. This recipe doesn't mention any seasoning/dressing on the salad, but adding lemon and salt to it really brightened things up. The Recipe: (from Tea for Turmeric) 2 c red lentils splash of avocado oil 2 tsp cumin seeds 2 small onions, finely chopped 1 inch ginger, grated 4 small tomatoes, chopped 2 thai chilies, minced 2 tsp cumin powder 2 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp turmeric 2+ tsp kosher salt 2 tsp lemon juice 1/2 c cilantro, chopped For serving: basmati rice and plain yogurt Salad ingredients: 1/2 english cucumber, sliced 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered 1/4 onion, slic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Curry Fried Rice

Excited for these leftovers. One of the things I wanted to try with my  new jar of curry powder  was fried rice. Years ago, Miles got fried rice at  Korea House  and it was the best fried rice I'd ever had. I suspected there was curry powder in it, but at that time I had never really cooked with curry powder, so I tucked that knowledge away for a later date. After reading a few recipes, I went rogue on this one. I couldn't even begin to effectively guess at what proportions I ended up with, so the recipe below is more of a rough guideline of ingredients. The "Recipe" (sorry no quantities; follow your heart): leftover jasmine rice tofu, cubed and crisped in the oven with avocado oil and salt vegetables: garlic, onion, cabbage, red bell pepper salt curry powder (I used a Vietnamese one) soy sauce sugar sesame oil future topping ideas: runny egg, sesame seeds, green onion Saute the vegetables in avocado oil until softened, and salt them to taste Add the tofu and toss to...
Post a Comment
Read more