Last weekend, my adorable nephew (along with the rest of his family) came to visit. Maurice absolutely loved eating fresh kale straight from our garden. This past week, whenever I went to pick kale, my thoughts went to him.

{Maurice is even more delicious than the kale.}

Ingredients:

Dough:

1/2 c warm water (110-116 degrees)
1 1/4 t active dry yeast
1 1/2 c all purpose flour (or gluten free flour)
1 t salt
olive oil (for coating bowl)

Topping:

1/2 c sliced onion
1 garlic clove, sliced
olive oil
4 c coarsely chopped kale
1 t herbs of Provence
1 T red wine vinegar
1/2 c sliced dried salami (or cooked sausage or this can be omitted for a vegetarian dish)
1/2 c shredded Swiss cheese

Instructions:

First, make the dough. (This needs to be done a least 1-2 hours ahead of time.) Pour all ingredients into the bowl of your electric mixer. Mix with a dough hook (or if you don’t have a dough hook, you can mix by hand) for 2-3 minutes, or until the dough is a craggy ball. Let sit for 5 minutes. Sprinkle a little flour onto a clean counter top, and kneed for another 5 minutes, or until the dough is pliable and rubbery. Coat a bowl with olive oil, put the dough in the bowl, and cover with saran wrap and a towel. Once it’s doubled in size (about 1-2 hours, depending on the heat of your room), you’re ready to start your topping.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. While this is warming, chop your kale, garlic, and onion. In a large skillet, heat 2 T of olive oil. Throw in the onions, and cook for 5 minutes, or until the onions start to slightly brown. Next throw in the kale, garlic, and herbs of Provence. Cook for about 2 minutes, and then stir in vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until wilted.

Once the oven is hot, roll out your dough. I have a pizza stone in my oven (and another large ceramic tile that I just got from Lowe’s that works under the same principle), and a peal. If you have a stone but no peal, you can use the back of a cookie sheet to slide the pizza crust on the stone. I use a little bit of cornmeal to put on the peal; it acts like ball-bearings and helps the pizza slide onto the hot stone. You can also just use a cookie sheet with slides, and put the crust in there, if that’s all you have.

Cook the crust for 5 or so minutes, just so the top gets a little golden. Take out of the oven, cover the surface with a brush of olive oil, put the kale topping on the pizza and sprinkle with cheese and sausage. Delish!