Kohlrabi Pizza

Our first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) basket for this summer came with a small bunch of cute little baby kohlrabis, with a lovely purple one to boot.

These tender kohlrabis are almost like watery green pears or green apples -- crunchy and pleasantly sweet -- and are perfect addition to fresh summer salads.

I was thinking about other ways to incorporate kohlrabi into everyday foods as I opened a kitchen cupboard looking for nothing in particular. A box of Almond flour pizza crust mix stared back at me -- the one I "won" by doing Zumba for an hour at a sponsored event at kids' school without flopping down exhausted. And, that's when the stars aligned themselves obligingly: Kohlrabi pizza!

Tender kohlrabi bulbs peeled and sliced thin, some kohlrabi leaves, plus some Walla Walla sweet onions, garlic shoots, and black olives (mostly for color) became the toppings for the almond flour pizza.

With these bright greens for toppings, the usual red tomato-based pizza sauce was antithetic. So, I looked in the garden for inspiration.

Some fresh oregano, mint, fennel, and basil beckoned. I walked around with my kitchen shears making a snip here and a snip there, tenderly, to get a happy little bunch of fresh organic herbs.

One Serrano chili with 1 cup packed chopped home garden herbs, plus a splash of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and olive oil got ground up together to make a heady, aromatic chimichurri-like sauce. No cooking involved. Bonus: this sauce doubles as a great salad dressing!

So, with the sauce befitting the toppings, all that was left to do was make the almond flour pizza per package directions.

It turned out yummy, if I may say so myself. The only thing I'd do differently next time is to add the tender kohlrabi leaves as topping much later-- possibly closer to finishing time -- so as not to crisp it up too much. And, probably try my usual from-scratch pizza dough.

This was the "adult" pizza that evening. The kids got their own personal pizzas with their favorite non-kohlrabi toppings when they casually suggested, "just put it in my salad, Mama, not on my pizza," which left me beaming anyway because, well, at least they are not rejecting kohlrabi altogether.