Radicchio Pizza and Kale Salad

A little over a year ago I bought Alicia Silverstone's Book The Kind Diet. No, it is not a dieting book. One of the first things she emphasizes is that the word "diet" used to mean lifestyle. The book is essentially a guide to omitting all animal based products and "nasty foods" from your diet. This includes dairy, honey, refined sugars, processed or bleached flours, or anything that our bodies aren't made to digest. The book has three levels: Flirt, Vegan, and Superhero.

A year later, I remain a flirt - I dabble in the vegan pool, seeing if veganism and I could be a good match, but I've made no commitment. As a superhero, one would follow a macrobiotic diet. It seems complicated, but Alicia (we're on a first name basis, duh) swears it just takes a bit of planning and getting used to. I loved this book because it's encouraging and presents the facts to you, but it doesn't make you feel like a bad person for only being a vegetarian or even for eating meat. Her claim is that if you try it, you'll feel a million times better and you want have the urge to go back. Along with factual information on digestion, and the meat and dairy industries, Alicia has a ton of recipes classified as vegan or superhero. There is also a companion website called The Kind Life which is kind of like a blog, but it focuses on user interaction.

Crunchy, soft, tangy, and sweet.

Crisp, crunchy, yummy!

Anyway, I passed the book along to my friend Ashelen who was interested in becoming a vegetarian. She was just as excited as I was to read the book for the first time. It's always easier to make a change like this when you have someone doing it with you. We decided to make one recipe a week from the book. Did it work? Well no, we are college students and we're really busy. But we did make the Radicchio Pizza from the book (with our adaptations) and my Aunt Stacy's Kale Salad. It was a lovely vegan meal.

Radicchio Pizza alla Alicia Silverstone

Kale Salad 

Radicchio Pizza
Serves 2

1 package of pizza dough (I buy mine from the Pizza counter at Whole Foods)
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 head of radicchio
1/3 cup olive oil
handful of fresh basil leaves
1 large garlic clove
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 415 degrees

1. Roll out pizza dough and place on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or foil.
2. Prick dough with a fork a few times. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
3. Place balsamic and brown sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Bring to a rolling boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer until reduced by half - it should be syrupy and thick.
4. Meanwhile, chop radicchio into thin ribbons and place in a large bowl. In a blender, combine olive oil, basil, and salt. You are not making pesto, you are just making a basil flavored olive oil.
5. Pour basil oil over radicchio and toss to coat.
6. When pizza crust is lightly browned, pull out of the oven. Top crust with dressed radicchio and return to oven for 4 minutes. When the radicchio is slight wilted and warmed through, remove from oven.
7. Drizzle radicchio with balsamic reduction. If you want, you can top the pizza off with diced roma tomato and some chopped basil. Serve immediately.


Kale Salad

1 bunch curly kale
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons brown sugar (usually honey, but we're trying to be vegan here)
1 handful craisins, or golden raisin
1/2 cup toasted almonds


1. Wash and dry kale. Cut away it's tough stem and rip kale into bite sized pieces.
2. Whisk vinegar, oil, and brown sugar together in a pyrex measuring cup or a bowl. Add craisins or raisins to the dressing and let it sit for 10 minutes.
3. Pour dressing over the kale in a large salad bowl and let sit for about 5-10 minutes (the vinegar will help brake down the toughness of the kale).
4. Top with chopped toasted almonds. Yum!