Recipe: Autumn Pizza With Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Kale & Mozzarella

This pizza hits all the high notes of fall cooking, with very little hassle. Savory sweet potatoes, caramelized red onions, crispy kale and creamy mozzarella all combine to make a seasonal, bright and balanced pizza. With little more than good-quality olive oil and some fresh garlic, the ingredients really shine.

You can make your own pizza crust (gluten free or otherwise), or look for store-bought varieties in your supermarket. Whole wheat or regular both work beautifully. Consider roasting up all the toppings and setting them out along with individual portions of pizza dough, to cook either in the oven or on the grill, for a fun and personalized dinner party dish. For vegan diners, just omit the mozzarella and replace it with some vegan cheese, sliced avocado (post-oven) or nothing at all — still delicious!

(Serves 2-3 as a main course)

Ingredients:

• 1 batch of your favorite pizza dough
• 1 sweet potato, skin on, sliced as thinly as you can
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 & 1/2 cups kale, ribs removed, chopped
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 1 medium-size ball of fresh mozzarella, torn up into pieces
• Chopped fresh herbs (try basil, parsley, chives, thyme) and extra virgin olive oil to serve

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On separate baking sheets, toss the sweet potatoes with the garlic, then the red onion, and the kale, with a tablespoon of olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven individually until the sweet potatoes are tender, the onion has caramelized, and the kale has crisped up. Remove them from the oven, and transfer to bowls.

Crank up your oven to 500 (make sure its clean or it'll smoke like hell!). On a baking sheet (or a pizza stone if you have one), drizzle some olive oil, and stretch out your pizza dough in any shape you like. Top with the sweet potatoes, onions, kale, and torn up mozzarella if using. Drizzle everything with a bit more olive oil, and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the pizza crust is golden brown and cooked through, and the cheese has melted.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a cutting board or large plate. Sprinkle over some chopped herbs, slice however you like, and enjoy!