Recipe of the Week: Barbecued Kale Pesto Pizza with Mozzarella and Kielbasa

I had heard of the toughness of kale. I had read the articles about that guy from Vermont (?) with the T-shirt exclaiming “Got Kale!” But, I had not experienced the sweetness of this bitter green until last November. After a few flurries had fallen, I walked into my garden, which was raked clean of weed and vegetable alike, all except one. I approached the sturdy-stemmed kale plants, six of them standing in a straight row, brushing snow from their rigid leaves and cutting off a few for dinner. The taste was better than ever. Not only had the kale plant survived the cold but it had improved!  I learned later that cold weather sweetens kale. So, this year I planted as many plants as I could and searched for as many recipes as I could. Here’s a really good one I tried this week:

Barbecued Kale Pesto Pizza Topped with Mozzarella and Kielbasa

The Pesto

1. In a food processor, mince a few cloves of garlic. Use as much or as little garlic as you like. You’ll get a taste for this after making a few batches of pesto.

2. Stuff the food processor with kale leaves. Make sure to cut the stems off the leaves. Chop the leaves. This will take some time and will require that you stop, shut off the food processor and push the leaves down into the blade.

3. While pulsating the processor, mix in some oil. You will not need much; just enough so the kale is wet and made somewhat pasty. If you have olive oil, use it. I do not and I find Canola to work real well, as it’s flavorless and does not take away from the taste of the pesto.

4. Add some salt and pepper for taste.

The Dough

1. After emptying out the pesto, drop about 3 cups of flour into the same food processor. Do not bother cleaning it out. Rather, allow the pesto stuck to the sides to mix through your dough.

2. Add a teaspoon and a half of yeast (I always have a small jar of Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast in the fridge) to the dough and a dash of salt. You can add more or less depending on your taste, but remember that you already added salt to the pesto.

3. Mix the flour.

4. Once mixed, pour a cup or so of warm water into a measuring cup, and while pulsating the food processor, slowly pour in the water.

5. Keep pulsating until you have a wet dough ball. If it’s really wet, do not worry. It it’s too dry, add a little more water.

6. Grease a bowl with oil and cover your hands in oil.

7. Scoop out the dough ball with your hands and work it into a smooth ball and drop it into the greased ball. Wrap a plastic bag around the ball and let it rise for about two hours.

8. Once it has risen, drop it onto a floured surface, knead it a couple of times and then work it into a rectangle. I’ll sometimes work it to fit over a rectangular cutting board, so I can get a good shape.

The Pizza

1. Turn on your barbecue and get it really hot.

2. Grease the grill grate. This will keep your dough from sticking. To do this, I pour a little oil into a bowl and using tongs dip a paper towel into it; I then brush the paper towel over the grate. My grandfather would use newspapers instead of paper towels, but something about  newspaper ink and food freaked me out a bit (although I often have to eat my own words.)

3. Flip your dough onto the greased grill.

4. It will cook really quickly, so have a spatula ready and lift the dough up and have a peek, making sure it’s not burning.

5. Oil the top of the dough. This will keep this side from sticking when you flip the dough. You'll cook both sides before putting on the toppings.

6. When the bottom has browned, flip the dough.

7. Meanwhile, cut some mozzarella cheese and sautée some slices of kielbasa. You do not have to sauté the kielbasa if it’s pre-cooked, but I think it tastes better.

8. With a pastry brush, spread your pesto over the top of dough. You are doing this while the dough is cooking. Don’t lay the pesto on too thick as you will see by tasting it that the pesto will be super strong.

9. Once you have painted a coat of green pesto onto the dough, layer on the cheese and slices of kielbasa. Also, make sure to continue checking the dough to make sure it’s not burning. If it’s getting too brown, lower the heat, or remove it from the heat, keeping  it to the side of the burners that are still aflame.

10. Close the barbecue and let the cheese melt. This should take less than five minutes.

11. Open and it's done!