Caramelized Sweet Potato + Crispy Kale Pizza

Kale chips are all the rave (they have been for a while now!)--and for good reason.

 

The crispiness you can get from kale is amazing, and the texture and flavor are addicting.

 

I started thinking it would be cool to put kale chips on a pizza--as a different sort of crunchy topping.

 

This pizza gives you a plethora of different textures--the crispy crust, gooey cheese, soft potatoes, burst of pomegranate seeds, and then the delicate crunch of the kale.

 

On top of everything else, you can feel like you're getting a really hearty and nutritious meal from your pizza.

Now that sounds good to me.

 

Caramelized Sweet Potato + Crispy Kale Pizza

Makes one 12-inch pizza

1 four-ounce container of pre-diced pancetta

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium sweet potato, peeled

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

Pinch of ground black pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Juice of 1 lemon

½ bunch kale, de-stemmed and coarsely chopped (about 1½ cups loosely packed)

1 twelve-inch premade pizza crust

1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1½ cups shredded gruyere cheese

½ cup pomegranate seeds

Parmesan cheese for a garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Toss the pancetta and 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until the pancetta is browned and fully cooked—about 10-15 minutes.

2. While the pancetta is cooking, prepare the sweet potato by chopping it evenly into ¼-inch to ½-inch cubes (this yields about 1½ cups).

3. Remove the pancetta from the skillet, but reserve the oil in the pan to cook the sweet potatoes. Place the chopped sweet potato cubes in the skillet and turn up the heat to medium-high. Add ¼ teaspoon of the salt, the smoked paprika, black pepper, and cayenne. Sautee this sweet potato mixture until it is deeply brown on all sides—about 10 minutes.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of oil, and half of the lemon juice. Toss the kale with this mixture.

5. Prepare the pizza crust to bake by evenly spreading the mozzarella and gruyere in layers on top of it. Layer the sweet potato cubes on top of the cheese, followed by the pancetta, and then the kale. Place the pizza in the oven and cook until the crust is brown and the kale is crispy—about 10-12 minutes.

6. After removing the pizza from the oven, evenly sprinkle on it first the pomegranate seeds, then the remaining lemon juice and the parmesan. Cut into slices and serve!

Keep it Simple: The pancetta can be replaced with bacon; this will add a smoky note to the pizza. Also, the gruyere adds a nice flavor to the overall pizza, but you can use mozzerella instead--or a mixture of mozzerella and parmesan. Another substitution that would work is to swap out the sweet potato for any type of squash.

50/50: For a vegetarian pie, simply leave off the pancetta and cook the sweet potato in olive oil. Or, if you want to do a pie that’s half vegetarian/half meaty, cook the pancetta and the sweet potato separately in olive oil, then add the pancetta to your meaty half.  

  

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