Green Skillet Pizza with Asparagus and Pesto
Ingredients
Instructions
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1Drain and rinse the millet and place it in a food processor. Grind until partially broken down.
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2In a medium saucepan, warm up the ghee/oil over medium heat. Add the millet and stir to coat. Add lemon juice and stir until absorbed, for about 30 seconds.
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3Add the broth, salt, garlic powder and black pepper, and bring to a boil while stirring. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix in the flax and simmer for another 10 minutes, until creamy. Stir frequently to prevent clumping.
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4Oil a 9-10-inch cast iron skillet or another heavy bottomed oven-proof pan. Evenly spread the millet over the bottom to make the crust. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to let set.
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5Drain and rinse the almonds, optionally slip them out of their skins and rinse again. Add the almonds, garlic and salt to a food processor and grind into rice-sized pieces.
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6Add the kale and lemon, and grind into pesto. With the motor still running, slowly add in the oil through the funnel.
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7Preheat oven to 450° F (230° C). Bake the millet crust for 20 minutes.
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8Cut the tough ends off the asparagus sprigs and discard them. Shave the sprigs into ribbons with a veggie peeler. Reserve the leftover, unshaved parts and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Remove the crust from the oven and evenly spread the kale pesto over it (you may have some leftovers). Pile the asparagus ribbons and pieces on top of the pesto. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with oil and place under the broiler, on the low setting, for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly before topping with greens and microgreens, if using. Optionally, garnish with nutritional yeast and hemp hearts, slice and serve.
We enjoyed this pizza the other day, but wanted to hold off one more week before posting it here, until things got truly springy for most of you in the Northern hemisphere. Then some stuff didn’t work out with this week’s scheduled recipe, so pizza it is. I’m the type of person that has to have everything laid out ahead of time, and get overly stressed when things don’t go according to plan. At the same time, I sometimes find it helpful to run into those plan-ruining situations, deal with them, and come out on the other side with the realization that none of it was as bad as I was making it out to be. Might as well exercise that muscle whenever we can, because how often do things in life actually go as planned? Just a note to self here, but thought it could serve as a nice reminder, in case someone out there is also dealing with a minor frustration and having trouble seeing any sort of bright side.
To the pizza! One of my favorite weeknight-friendly recipes that we’ve ever posted is this lemony millet polenta from last spring. It’s easy to make, requires some of the most affordable and modest ingredients, and the final result is outright delicious. I worked on a lot of alternative skillet pizza crust ideas for our second cookbook, ones made with vegetables and whole grains instead of flour, and since then, quick skillet pizzas have become a dinner staple in our house. When I was recently making the aforementioned millet polenta, I had the realization that, with some adjustments, the polenta would make for another great gluten-free skillet pizza ‘crust.’ And it really did!
The pizza is topped with a quick kale pesto, but you can use pretty much any pesto here, if you happen to have some on hand. Following the pesto, a mound of everything bright, fresh and springy – asparagus ribbons and tips, a ton of fresh greens and microgreens. Our fam has no problem consuming the whole thing in one sitting, but the leftovers keep well, in case you are more restrained. We also put together a step-by-step video (above), where you can see that the process is pretty quick and very satisfying. Enjoy :)
for the crust
- 1 cup millet - soaked in purified water overnight
- 1 tablespoon ghee or neutral coconut oil, plus more for oiling the skillet
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 cups warm vegetable broth
- sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup ground flax seeds
for the pesto
- ½ cup almonds - soaked in purified water overnight
- 1 garlic clove
- sea salt
- about 3 cups roughly chopped kale
- juice of ½ lemon
- ½ cup olive oil
for the pizza
- 1 bunch asparagus
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- neutral coconut oil or olive oil for drizzling
topping options
- fresh salad greens
- microgreens
- nutritional yeast
- hemp hearts
to make the crust
- Drain and rinse the millet and place it in a food processor. Grind until partially broken down.
- In a medium saucepan, warm up the ghee/oil over medium heat. Add the millet and stir to coat. Add lemon juice and stir until absorbed, for about 30 seconds.
- Add the broth, salt, garlic powder and black pepper, and bring to a boil while stirring. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix in the flax and simmer for another 10 minutes, until creamy. Stir frequently to prevent clumping.
- Oil a 9-10-inch cast iron skillet or another heavy bottomed oven-proof pan. Evenly spread the millet over the bottom to make the crust. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to let set.
to make the pesto
- Drain and rinse the almonds, optionally slip them out of their skins and rinse again. Add the almonds, garlic and salt to a food processor and grind into rice-sized pieces.
- Add the kale and lemon, and grind into pesto. With the motor still running, slowly add in the oil through the funnel.
to make the pizza
- Preheat oven to 450° F (230° C). Bake the millet crust for 20 minutes.
- Cut the tough ends off the asparagus sprigs and discard them. Shave the sprigs into ribbons with a veggie peeler. Reserve the leftover, unshaved parts and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Remove the crust from the oven and evenly spread the kale pesto over it (you may have some leftovers). Pile the asparagus ribbons and pieces on top of the pesto. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with oil and place under the broiler, on the low setting, for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly before topping with greens and microgreens, if using. Optionally, garnish with nutritional yeast and hemp hearts, slice and serve.
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