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This naan pizza is a quick and easy vegetarian dinner recipe, topped with hummus, kale, brocolli, and a tahini miso drizzle!
This post was created in partnership with Sub-Zero. All opinions are our own.
As you may know, we’re all about the way that eating fresh food can transform your life. Today we’ve got something special for you: an interview with a local farmer who is turning our food system upside down. He believes fresh food should be accessible to all people, not just the ones who can afford typical farmer’s markets. We’ve partnered with Sub-Zero on their Fresh Food Matters initiative to bring you this naan pizza and an interview with Jonathan Lawler, Executive Director and Farmer with Brandywine Creek Farms here in Indianapolis. He’s got some strong opinions and a huge passion for his work. Here’s Jonathan.
The interview: farmer Jonathan Lawler
Sonja: The first time we spoke, you made a few bold statements: “I don’t sell at farmer’s markets. I only produce five crops. I think kale should be illegal.” Let’s take a step back: why as a local farmer don’t you sell at markets anymore? What are the crops you grow, and why only five?
Jonathan: Brandywine Creek Farms is considered a large-scale produce farm. Our model serves a much wider market than what farmers markets offer us. Farmer’s markets have their place; they just don’t fit well with a farm model like ours. We grow tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, and melons. We grow only five, but we grow them to very large scales and concentrate on quality. As an example, we will put 68,000 tomato plants into the ground. I have found success with these five crops, if we tried to grow multiple crops at our scale we would lose a lot of quality control.
Sonja: And just for the record, and what’s your beef with kale?
Jonathan: Foodie hipsters, who actually make up a lot of my friends and business partners, are always trying to get me to eat kale something. Kale Chips, Kale smoothies, Kale Salad, Stewed Kale. The list goes on and on. I don’t like the taste of kale and all my friends act like it is a super food (which it is) that can be paired or added with anything. I guess I just get tired of hearing about it.
Sonja: You obviously have a passion for bringing fresh food to under-served populations. Why is making fresh food accessible important to you?
Jonathan: As a farmer I am a part of the population that makes up the one to tw percent that feeds the other 98 percent. I view farming as a civic duty. The problem was I really didn’t think hunger existed in my community. My son actually told me about a child at his school that had to take food home from a pantry that had been established in the school. That lit a fire inside of me to address food insecurity in Central Indiana with the one tool and talent I had… Agriculture. There is an entire demographic that wants to participate in the local food system, but are often priced out. Farms like BCF grow to a large enough scale that we can donate large amounts and also sell at a greatly discounted price and still make enough to cover our operations and continue to grow. With our partners at Flanner House we have come up with an entire new market for local food, we call it the Affordable Access Market. It allows anyone who wants to participate in local food to do so without having to spend high prices you find at farmer’s markets and specialty outlets.
Sonja: You have a very exciting project going on to take bringing fresh food to people in Indianapolis to a new level. Can you give us a brief summary of your collaboration with Flanner House and what it will bring to the community?
Jonathan: We are helping Flanner House establish one of the largest urban farms in the city. It will connect that community with real food and real choices. It will also provide jobs in agriculture and it will allow underserved members of the community the opportunity to have in depth participation in food production and everything else that can come with that. Marketing, culinary disciplines, logistics. The possibilities are endless. We are actually bringing interns from Flanner House out to BCF to participate in our 2nd Chance Farmer Program. We hope to turn some of the youth in that community into large scale vegetable producers. Stay tuned, we have some really exciting programs coming out this summer that we can’t announce yet.
Sonja: That’s incredibly inspiring! Thank you for the work you do for our community.
Jonathan: Absolutely. Thank you for helping us raise awareness about food insecurity in Central Indiana.
How to make naan pizza
To go alongside Jonathon’s interview, we’ve created a new recipe: a naan pizza using a variety of spring vegetables and drizzled with a tahini miso sauce! Naan pizza is a quick and easy way to dinner, and this recipe adds a large dose of fresh vegetables.
For one of the greens, we’ve used broccoli, which Jonathan mentioned he used to grow and would be available around this time as an early crop in Indiana. And in his honor, we’ve used rainbow chard as a leafy green instead of kale (though you could substitute with kale if you choose)! Artichokes and radishes round out the spring veggies, and the base of the pizza is a creamy hummus. With all the flavor going on, you won’t even notice there’s no cheese: just lots of fresh ingredients.
A huge thanks goes out to Sub-Zero for encouraging us to spotlight local farmers for their Fresh Food Matters initiative, and create this delicious veggie-filled naan pizza! Fresh Food Matters is about inspiring people to think about their own relationship with fresh food, how they can incorporate it into every day, and how fresh food has an impact on society. We couldn’t be more pleased to be a part of it. For more, head over to FreshFoodMatters.com, which features interviews with experts on the impact food has in their lives, and practical tips for how to purchase and store fresh food from season to season.
Related: What is Tahini?
Did you make this recipe?
If you make this naan pizza, we’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks and tag #FreshFoodMatters on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This naan pizza recipe is…
Vegetarian. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, use vegan flatbread. For gluten-free, use gluten-free naan.
Looking for more pizza recipes?
Outside of this naan pizza recipe, here are some of our favorite pizza recipes:
- Best Margherita Pizza
- Homemade Pizza for Beginners
- Spicy Vegetarian Diavola Pizza
- Perfect Neapolitan Style Pizza Recipe
- Egg Pizza with Scallions
- Loaded Mexican Pizza
- Homemade Pizza for Beginners
- Salad Pizza with Ranch
- Easy Cheese Pita Pizza
- Thai Curry Pizza with Naan Bread
“Get Your Greens” Naan Pizza
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This naan pizza is a quick and easy vegetarian dinner recipe, topped with hummus, kale, brocolli, and a tahini miso drizzle!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon miso
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- ¼ cup tahini
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon maple syrup or honey
- 1 large head broccoli, chopped into small florets (5 cups chopped)
- 1 bunch chard, kale, or spinach (4 cups chopped)
- 2 green onions
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 7 ounces canned artichokes (1/2 14-ounce can)
- 2 radishes
- 4 naan breads (or vegan pita or flatbread)
- 1 cup hummus (purchased or homemade)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the miso into the orange juice. Whisk in the tahini, ginger, and maple syrup, and 1 tablespoon water. Stir until a drizzle-able consistency is reached, adding additional water if necessary.
- Chop the broccoli into small florets. Destem and chop the greens. Thinly slice the green onion. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the broccoli and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the chard and green onion, and cook until the chard is wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and sauté for another minute, until the broccoli is bright green and crisp tender. Taste, and add another ¼ teaspoon kosher salt if desired.
- Roughly chop the artichoke. Slice the radish into matchsticks.
- Place naan directly on the oven grate and pre-bake 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove the naan from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
- To serve, spread each pita with hummus. Top with greens and broccoli, artichokes, and radishes, and drizzle with the tahini miso sauce.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
I had some friends over for dinner tonight and made this recipe. Wow! I loved all the layers of flavor, the massive amount of veggies, and the fact that I still feel full three hours later. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Loves this interview! He’s doing amazing things for the people of Indianapolis. Trying the recipe this week!
Yes, Jonanthan is such an inspiring force in Indianapolis! I love his philosophy of making fresh food accessible to all people. We’re grateful to Sub Zero for taking an interest in highlighting farmers on a local level. Let us know what you think about the recipe!
This was a HUGE hit for dinner tonight! Changed it up just a bit….homemade roasted red pepper hummus, no spinach but homegrown bok choy and radishes fresh from our garden. Also added mushrooms since they needed to be eaten. Thank you so much for the recipe. Definitely one for my rotation!
Ooo this makes us to happy to hear! We’re so glad you enjoyed it–and THANK YOU for letting us know too. Sending a warm greeting from both of us!
I LOVE this blog. I really like pizzas, I have just been to Italy and it is amazing how many possibilities exist, and a lot of them are really a healthy dish! Nonetheless I have never used many of the ingredients in the list (like kosher salt or miso), I hope it will not be difficult to find in my town. It would be great if you add alternatives to these ingredients. Great post! Thank you!
Thanks for your comment! Italy sounds wonderful! If you’re looking for traditional pizza more like the Italian way, here’s one we like: https://www.acouplecooks.com/white-pizza-pecorino-scallions-egg-4-years/
If you do decide to make this pizza, you could try to order miso online? In terms of salt, you can use sea salt in place of kosher salt, no problem! Let me know if you have other questions.
“There is an entire demographic that wants to participate in the local food system, but are often priced out.”
This sentence resonated with me so deeply because it is at the heart of my own passions for supporting local food systems and addressing issues of food justice in my community in South Bend, Indiana. I have worked closely with two food co-operatives, one very much focused on reaching the demographic described above and one that generally reaches a much smaller percentage of the population who can afford to spend more on food that is fresh, locally sourced and organically grown. I realize that it is a huge privilege to have both the time and money to be able to cook local, fresh, and mostly organic food at home. This is something I love and care about very much, and I feel a sense of responsibility to my community to make these choices more accessible for everyone.
Jonathan Lawler’s mission and work within Indianapolis is incredibly inspiring and has further strengthened my belief that food can be a powerful tool for social and environmental change. I would love to become involved with an initiative such as this collaboration with Flanner House to build an urban garden and to create job opportunities for the underserved. The possibilities for impact truly are endless, and reading this interview has made me so excited to join in these efforts alongside passionate food justice advocates such as Jonathan. Thank you for sharing his story and the importance of his work, and thank you to Jonathan for what you have done and will continue to do for the city of Indianapolis!
His work is very inspiring! I love his focus on making fresh food accessible for people of all income levels, and the practical ways this can become a reality. Please keep us posted on whether you become involved in an initiative like this! Thank you for your passion.
FYI – This is inaccurately labeled as a Vegan recipe when it is not. Naan is NOT VEGAN!
Good point! I’ve updated the recipe to indicate to use a vegan flatbread for vegan. Thanks so much!