Tiny Ticky Tacky

Grilled Pizza with Kohlrabi Greens and Kalamata Olives

Have I told you yet how much I love kohlrabi greens? I had never heard of this Dr. Seuss-looking brassica before moving to Alaska. But I have now filled my garden with it.

Kohlrabi is one of the most under-appreciated vegetables. Its bulbous stem is a cross between an apple, a radish, and a potato. It’s awesome raw, in slaw, roasted, or grilled

The glorious kohlrabi, leaves and all

I love the bulb on the stem that most people eat, yes. That alone would be worth growing the plant. But I especially love the greens. 

Growing out of the edible bulb are edible leaves. Leaves that are a glorious, curvy, leathery blue-green color. To me, not enough people pay attention to the greens. Some grocers even sell the bulb without the leaves. I mean, WHAT?!

These leaves are magical. They are awesome as wraps, blanched to use for stuffing, as a replacement for cabbage leaves, grape leaves, or even as the roll in rollatini. They are awesome sautéed, in stir fries, and in salads. It makes a good pesto and is nice in frittatas. You can basically use kohlrabi leaves any way you could use any other green.

Kohlrabi leaves fresh from the garden

So the other day when Kris and I looked out over the garden in search of pizza toppings, he immediately asked for kohlrabi greens and I was happy to oblige. 

I snipped one leaf off each of the larger plants that we have growing and sliced them thin.

They added a particular texture that would be difficult to find in other greens, as they hold their shape much more than spinach or kale, and have a much smoother flavor than something like cabbage.

Recipe:

Serves 4

1 pizza dough, halved*

1 cup pizza sauce

1 cup mozzarella, shredded

1/2 cup kalamata olives, chopped

8 kohlrabi leaves, sliced as thin as possible

  1. On a floured surface, roll out each half of pizza dough to be about the size of a large plate, preferably as thin as you can make it. 
  2. Over a bed of hot coals (but not flame!) grill the flat dough until it is completely cooked on one side. Slide the half-cooked dough upside down onto a floured plate, so that the grilled side is facing up. 
  3. Spread half of the pizza sauce thinly over the grilled side of the pizza. Then sprinkle on half of the mozzarella, half of the olives, and half of the kohlrabi leaves.
  4. Slide the topped pizza back on the grill, so that the side of the dough that is not yet fully cooked can finish cooking. 
  5. Slice and serve.
  6. Repeat with the second half of the ingredients.

*Note: Halving the recipe so that the dough is smaller makes it easier to make a thin, manageable pizza, with all the flipping that needs to happen. But, it is also possible to make one big pizza. You could also divide it into four for a very easy grill-and-flip!