Lately, in this In Season series, we're taking a look at what I take home from Crooked Sky Farms each week and see what I've done with my CSA share, or part share. This week I'm using kale, farmers cheese, goat cheese and dates.
This is the recipe for the pizzas I made last Saturday (with the help of Chef Mario) for the guests of my Winter Chef series class at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market. I didn't get a chance to eat one until after the class and when I headed into the kitchen, I saw that the market's Chef Mario had added leftover crispy Meat Shop bacon pieces from the salad course. That might have been the best version of this pizza to date. This is a super satisfying, fairly healthful pizza that's a nice sweet and savory pizza.
Individual Pizzas with Kale Olive Sauce, Farmers Cheese, Goat Cheese, Pine Nuts and Dates.
makes 4, 7-8 inch sized pizzas sauce inspired by Kale Kalamata Pizza from Vegan Lunch Box by Jennifer McCann
Ingredients
4 dates ¼ cup pine nuts 4 ounces Farmer's Cheese (or ricotta cheese) 4 ounces goat cheese 4 ounces mozzerella cheese shredded or sliced thinly
Sauce 12 cups black kale/beet greens/mustard or whatever greens you have, stems removed, chopped ⅓ cup pizza sauce or tomato sauce 8 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped 12 kalamata olives
Steam kale in a steamer basket over a pan filled with an inch or two of steaming boiling water until completely tender. Taste it to determine doneness.
Place in a food processor with the remaining ingredients and pulse until chopped fine or smooth - your choice.
Awesome Bucket of Dough adapted from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day Makes enough for many many individual pizzas, if you don't use it within 2 weeks, freeze in individual portions and defrost in the fridge to use again within 3 months.
3 cups lukewarm water (no more than 110 degrees) 3 tablespoons honey 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 3 cups whole wheat flour
Preheat oven to 500 degrees, make sure you have a baking stone or cast iron pan set inside the oven to preheat as well. Pour the water and honey into a very large bowl or a 6 quart container, add the yeast, salt, and flour. Stir until all the flour is incorporated into the dough about 1 minute. If it's too dry after you've given it a chance to be fully mixed, add small amounts of water to ensure it's not completely dry in spots. Cover loosely and let sit for 2 hours to rise. After that, store in the refrigerator until ready to use making sure to cover completely after 24 hours. Do not punch dough down. Label your bucket with the date and use dough within 2 weeks.
For pizza, roll out each ball of dough (about the size of a tennis ball) into a 7-to-8-inch circle on top of a piece of parchment paper. Making sure to keep the table, dough and rolling pin nicely floured. This dough can be a bit sticky otherwise.
Spread the rolled out pizzas with a thin layer of sauce - a few tablespoons. Dot and sprinkle with cheese, and sprinkle with pine nuts.
Lift the parchment and uncooked pizza into the oven and bake for 8 minutes or so until the crust is crispy and brown around the edges.
After the pizza's been removed, arrange artfully a date sliced lengthwise into strips. Serve immediately.
