Shaved Kohlrabi Meat/No Meat Pizza

I'm still working on the 'elevator speech' about what I do here on this blog.  At work the other day I was trying to describe this to Sharon (I'm paraphrasing here).

Me:  I blog about feeding my family from the CSA farm share.  Have you heard of a Community Supported Agriculture farm share?

Sharon:  No.  What is it?

Me:  It's where you pay the farmer a chunk of money in late winter/early spring when they are gearing up for the season, and in return you get a box of vegetables each week during the growing season.

Sharon:  My friend did that . . . she got kohlrabi.  What do you even do with kohlrabi?

Me:  Sushi!  Pizza!  See, that's why I started the blog!  I've been figuring out how to use the fresh veggies from the farm share for so many seasons that I've got several ideas for kohlrabi!  I hate to waste food.

Sharon:  Me, too.

My elevator speech may not be slick or smooth--yet--but the conversation reminded me that I made a couple of kohlrabi pizzas that I'd like to share with you.  I'd already made pizza using the greens from kohlrabi (of course they're edible--not just for composting pigs or worms, just like chard stems) but I was intrigued at the thought of shaving wafer-thin slices of kohlrabi onto a pizza pie.

As usual, dithering ensued, so I'm sharing a pair of pizzas--with or without meat.  I was a mite ambitious this particular Friday Night Pizza Night, and to keep track of what all went on each one I ended up scribbling the toppings on the parchment paper.  Who knew parchment paper was good for more than preventing my children from hearing unsavory language when I attempt to transfer the dough into the oven keeping the dough from sticking to the peel?

Shaved Kohlrabi Meat/No Meat Pizza

Refer to my Pizza Primer post for hints, tips, collages, and general making-pizza-at-home advice.

1 pound pizza dough of your choice (I used 1/2 whole wheat 1/2 all purpose flour this time)

olive oil for parchment paper, skillet, and to brush across crust

1 kohlrabi bulb, with leaves

1/2 cup caramelized onions (I like Dorothy's easy slow cooker recipe here)

Possible meat combo toppings:  4 slices pancetta, cooked until crisp in a medium skillet then crumbled, 1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Manchego cheese

Possible veggie combo toppings: 1/4 cup prepared pesto, 1 Tablespoon chopped dates, 2 ounces crumbled goat cheese (I used tomato-basil).

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and if you own a pizza stone take it out of the box and put it into the oven as well.  If not, use a cookie sheet.  On an oiled sheet of parchment paper, stretch the dough into the shape that pleases you today.  Brush with olive oil.  Set aside.  

Chop the leaves off the kohlrabi bulb and slice into ribbons.  Remove the thick stems (worms love them).  Peel the kohlrabi bulb.  Using knife skills I don't possess, or a mandoline or Benriner (which I do possess), shave wafer thin slices of kohlrabi.  

Preheat a small skillet over medium heat.  If you're making the meat pizza, place the pancetta into the preheated skillet and cook both sides until crispy and browned.  Then there's enough fat in the skillet to sauté the kohlrabi leaves until bright green.  If you're making the veggie pizza, add a turn of oil to the skillet and sauté the kohlrabi leaves until bright green.

To top the meat pizza:  layer slices of kohlrabi bulb across the oiled dough.  Top with caramelized onions and sautéed kohlrabi leaves.  Scatter crumbles of crisp pancetta and then Manchego cheese over the rest.

To top the veggie pizza:  spread dough with prepared pesto.  Layer slices of kohlrabi bulb over top, then caramelized onions, sautéed kohlrabi leaves, chopped dates, and finally bits of goat cheese.

To bake:  slide the whole thing, parchment and all, onto a preheated pizza stone or a cookie sheet.  Bake 5 to 8 minutes, then shimmy the pizza off the parchment (save for labeling for your photos!) and continue baking another 3-5 minutes until shredded cheese is browned and bubbly or goat cheese is soft and crust is beginning to brown.  Cool, slice, and serve.

NOTE:  If you look closely, you'll see "pizza crust yeast" which is my shorthand for the packets of Fleischmann's pizza crust yeast that I've bought (on sale with coupon! score!).  I like to use this when I forget to have dough resting in the fridge, because the resulting pizza dough fights me less than a freshly-made dough using regular active dry yeast.  I'm not paid in yeast or cash to say this--it's just a good product, if you can find it, for those times when you want to make a dough and bake it right away.  There are coupons in the holiday baking couponpalooza, too.

I'll admit I preferred the meat pizza.  Something about the crispy pancetta really appealed to me more this time, but I liked the other one enough to share it as well.  If kohlrabi on a pizza doesn't appeal to you, here's a few other kohlrabi recipes:

Hungarian Kohlrabi Soup from Chocolate Moosey
Kohlrabi Salad from FrannyCakes
Mashed Potato Kohlrabi from Masala Herb
Pick a Veggie Sushi Rolls
Roasted Kohlrabi from Kitchen Parade/A Veggie Venture
Spam Musubi Chirashi Sushi

And since they look so cute in their kohlrabi caps, here's a shot of Quartz and Crystal.  They would not cooperate and eat the kohlrabi when I placed them in their favorite clover patch--gave me the stink eye instead--but I did manage to get one shot of them.  I think Quarty looked quite smart.

This pizza is shared with the From the Farm Blog Hop, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays, Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up, What's Cookin' Wednesday, and What's In The Box.