This dish is a cross between a pizza and a flatbread, sans the sauce. Hearty and filling, it’s a great appetizer for a party or a crowd. I brought it to a get-together recently, and it was devoured by both vegans and non-vegans. I put kale on only half of the dish, since I know some non-vegans that are afraid of kale! But even non-kale lovers will find this dish delicious.
To make the dish even simpler, you can buy prepared (but uncooked) vegan pizza dough. You can also find pre-cooked vegan pizza shells at various stores, or you can make your dough from scratch. I make my dough in a bread machine, and the dough it churns out makes a chewy and dense pizza crust.
The Garlic Cashew Cheese and Vegan Parmesan are from my cookbook, Peruvegan, but you can also find both recipes here.
PIZZA CRUST
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place the prepared pizza dough into a large, lightly oiled pizza pan. Stretch and roll out the dough by hand, or with a pizza dough roller. Poke the bottom of the dough in numerous places with a fork. Bake on the lowest rack, until the crust and bottom are cooked and lightly browned. Remove from oven. (Every oven is different, but my oven cooks my dough in about 20 minutes).
While the dough is cooking, prepare the White Bean Puree and Parmesan Kale
WHITE BEAN PUREE
Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 15 oz. can of Great Northern Beans (rinsed and drained)
Vegetable broth, as needed
2-3 T. Garlic Cashew Cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until translucent and lightly browned. Add garlic and saute for a few more minutes. Add beans, and stir until beans are warmed through. Remove from heat. Place onion, garlic and beans in a blender. Add vegetable broth to make a bean puree. Start with ½ cup and add more vegetable broth as needed to make a spreadable puree (like a hummus). Blend. Add Garlic Cashew Cheese and blend again. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
PARMESAN KALE
Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
Olive oil (as needed)
Vegan Parmesan (as needed)
Directions:
Steam the kale just briefly, until it is bright green and barely wilted. Set aside briefly to cool. When cool, drizzle with a small amount of olive oil, and sprinkle generously with Vegan Parmesan. Massage the olive oil and Vegan Parmesan into the kale, until thoroughly incorporated. Set aside.
HOW TO ASSEMBLE
Spread cooked pizza crust with White Bean Puree. Sprinkle the Parmesan Kale on top of the White Bean Puree. Cut into slices using a pizza cutter or sharp knife.
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