Pizza with Wilted Greens, Goat Cheese, & Hot Pepper
Chef Annie Somerville has chosen spinach and chard for this popular pizza, but you can use all kinds of greens here, including broccoli rabe and kale. Creamy goat cheese and salty olives intensify the flavors. In a pinch, you can use premade pizza dough, but we recommend Somerville’s dough recipe.
Ingredients
- Prepared pizza dough ready to roll out
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus more for oiling the dough
- 1 medium red onion diced (about 1½ cups)
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 bunch of chard stems removed and leaves washed (8 to 10 cups)
- 1 bunch of spinach stems removed and leaves washed (6 to 8 cups)
- ¼ teaspoon hot pepper flakes plus more to taste
- Fine cornmeal
- 5 ounces fontina or asiago cheese grated (about 1½ cups)
- 10 Gaeta olives pitted and coarsely chopped (about ½ cup)
- 2 to 3 ounces creamy goat cheese crumbled, about ½ cup
- ½ ounce Parmesan cheese grated (2 to 3 tablespoons)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 500ºF. Heat oil in a large sauté pan, and add onion, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a few pinches of pepper. Sauté over medium heat until onion softens, about 3 minutes; add garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add chard, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper; sauté over medium heat until tender, about 3 minutes. Add spinach and hot pepper flakes, and cook 1 minute more, just long enough to wilt greens. Transfer to a strainer, and cool. Squeeze out excess moisture, and coarsely chop.
- Roll out dough, and place on a lightly oiled pizza pan (or a wooden peel if you’re using a pizza stone) sprinkled with fine cornmeal; brush dough lightly with oil. Sprinkle 1 cup of fontina or asiago over dough. Spread greens and onion mixture over grated cheese, then sprinkle with olives and goat cheese. Cover with remaining grated cheese.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until crust is golden and crisp. Remove it from the oven, and sprinkle with Parmesan. For a spicier pizza, sprinkle with additional hot pepper flakes.
Chef Annie Somerville
Annie Somerville is the executive chef of Greens Restaurant and the author of the award-winning cookbook Fields of Greens and Everyday Greens. She came to Greens in 1981, trained under Deborah Madison, and has been the executive chef since 1985. She works closely with the organic gardeners at Green Gulch Farm, local growers, cheese makers, and other purveyors, as well as with Greens chefs, planning menus and overseeing a talented kitchen staff.
