Kale, White Bean and Roasted Garlic Pizza

Oh man, is this pizza good?!? The smashed white beans add the protein and the kale is perfectly crispy and delish!  The recipe calls for nutritional yeast, which I HIGHLY recommend, but it you can't find it, or can tolerate dairy, parmesan cheese would work well too.

1 package of pre-made pizza dough

1 Tbsp cornmeal

1 head of garlic

evoo

4-6 cups, fresh kale, stemmed and roughly chopped

s/p

1 can of white beans, I used cannellini 

1 Tbsp tomato puree or paste

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp dried thyme (if using fresh bump it up to 2 tsp)

1-2 tsp lemon juice

red chili pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut the top of the head of garlic off, place on a square of foil and drizzle with evoo and sprinkle s/p.  Wrap it up tightly and roast for 25-35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool before handling.

Read the directions on your pizza dough, because you may need to let it rest for 30 minutes before using.  This would be perfect to do while the garlic is roasting.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and put kale in.  Let it cook for 1 minute and remove to a colander.  Drain off excess water and wring in a dish towel to dry completely.  Toss with a bit of evoo and s/p.  Set aside.

Place beans in a bowl, along with roasted garlic, tomato sauce, thyme, nutritional yeast, 1 Tbsp evoo, red chili pepper flake and s/p.  To remove the garlic, simply squeeze from the base all the way out of the opening.   Using a potato masher, mash all ingredients together until incorporated.  

On a floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/4" thickness.  Place on a cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.  This will prevent sticking.  Brush the outer edges of the dough with evoo.  Spread bean mixture over entire surface, leaving some room for the crust.  Finally top it with seasoned kale.  

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until dough is cooked and kale is crispy!