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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..."







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