Recipe by Illanique van Aswegen
Who says pizza always needs mozzarella and a tomato sauce? This non-traditional gourmet pizza delivers on crunch and unusual flavours that are sure to impress your family or fellow foodies.
Butter-braised kohlrabi, asparagus and ricotta pizza
Ingredients
- Butter-braised kohlrabies
- 3 (about 360g) small kohlrabies
- 45g butter
- ¼ (about 45g) red onion, peeled and chopped
- 125ml (½ cup) chicken stock, warm
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Pizza
- olive oil, to drizzle
- 100g mini asparagus
- 15g butter
- 5ml (1 tsp) garlic, peeled and crushed
- 70g spinach, shredded
- 270g self-raising flour + extra, if needed
- 1,25ml (¼ tsp) fine salt
- 180ml (¾ cup) milk
- 45g butter, at room temperature
- 75g crème fraîche
- 15ml (1 tbsp) wholegrain mustard
- 100g ricotta
- 15g Parmesan, finely grated + extra, to serve (optional)
- microherbs, to garnish
Instructions
For the butter-braised kohlrabies, remove the leaves and trim the tops and bases of the kohlrabies. Peel off the outer skins with a vegetable peeler and rinse thoroughly. Dice into bitesize pieces.
Melt the 45g butter in a heavy-base pot over medium heat. Add the onion and kohlrabi pieces and sauté for 1 minute. Add the stock, cover with a lid and cook until tender, 20 minutes. Season to taste.
For the pizza, heat a griddle pan over high heat. Drizzle some oil over the asparagus and lightly season with salt and pepper. Cook in the griddle pan until lightly charred, about 1 minute.
Melt the 15g butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and spinach and sauté until tender, 2 minutes. Season to taste.
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Using the dough hook of an electric mixer, combine the flour, salt, milk and 45g butter until a dough forms. Use your hands to knead it for 5 minutes until smooth. Use a little extra flour if the dough is a bit sticky. Roll the dough out to 0,5cm thickness, in any shape you desire, and transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in the oven, 10 minutes.
Spread the crème fraîche onto the base and then top with the mustard. Scatter the cooked spinach, chargrilled asparagus and kohlrabi on top. Add the ricotta and Parmesan and return to the oven until golden and crisp, 10 – 12 minutes. Garnish with microherbs and top with more Parmesan, if desired.
Notes
This recipe doesn’t make use of regular pizza dough that needs to be made with yeast. This alternative is easier to make and requires less prepping time. You can par-bake this pizza base for 5 minutes and then freeze for later use. When needed, just defrost it, spread on the filling and bake as usual.
