Kale and Sausage Pizza

Have a bowl of ice water prepared (large enough to hold the water and kale). You’ll need it in a few minutes.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Then add the kale into the boiling water. Cook the kale for approximately five minutes, just to get it a bit tender. Remove it from the water with a slotted spoon and place the kale into the ice water to shock it. Drain the kale. Once drained, I placed the kale into a salad spinner to remove a lot more water. Trust me it holds a lot. Then I balled it up, and gave it another good squeeze, removing a lot more water. Slice kale into strips, then chop it.

Preheat your oven to 475 F. Place a large circular baking sheet or pizza pan into the oven to preheat while you make your pizza.

Lightly flour your dough ball, put it onto your work surface then begin pressing and spreading it with your fingers. Flip to repeat. If desired you can use a rolling pin to get started, then begin to toss it. See related blog link for a video about to how to toss a pizza. It’s fun, and the kids love seeing it thrown into the air.

Once your dough is ready and you have your desired thickness, remove the pizza pan out of the oven with your kitchen mitts. The pan will be really hot, so be ready to place it onto a wood cutting board, or a potholder.

Drizzle the olive oil onto the baking sheet or pizza pan and tilt the pan to make sure you get full coverage of the oil onto the pan. Then carefully place your dough onto it. Once your dough is on the sheet, it is now time to build the pizza.

Sprinkle the minced garlic over the pizza dough, sprinkle with a bit of salt, then add the mozzarella cheese. Top the mozzarella with the chopped kale, then start dotting on pieces of your uncooked Italian sausage, covering the pizza. Shower on the Parmesan cheese and place pan back into the oven. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the sausage is cooked and the cheese is nice and golden.

Remove it from the oven and serve.

My first bite was nothing short of amazing. The kale got a bit crispy in certain places, which I loved and reminded me of those light kale chips. And then that spicy Italian sausage and the cheese … well, I’m done. This was a super great pizza and I will definitely be making it more often. I’m just saying that pizza joints need to start offering kale as an option for a topping.