Asparagus Pizza

It's a bit surprising to me that we haven’t previously written about making pizza. Pizza is, after all, one of the things we make most often. That is because it is delicious and awesome.

I guess I’m a bit hesitant to write about it because even though it seems like a pretty straightforward operation, it can get complicated. For example, when we make it, we actually use some fairly specific equipment. Namely: a pizza stone, a pizza peel and a sheet of reusable parchment.

All these things are available at you local restaurant supply store. Or, if you are so inclined, there are alternatives that you can use. Quarry tiles from your local hardware store in place of a pizza stone (you want unglazed - glazed tiles can have lead in them), the back of a baking sheet in place of the peel, and regular parchment paper or even flour (some people like semolina flour) in lieu of the reusable sheet. For a lot of people, just putting the pizza on a baking sheet and throwing that in the oven in sufficient. Those people obviously didn’t grow up in the vicinity of New York City, but that’s forgivable.

The reality is that, like every recipe, people develop their own preferred version. I’ve spent a pretty good amount of time reading how other people make pizza in their homes, and this is what has made the cut so far.

Ok, so now that we’ve blathered on a bit about equipment, we should talk about ingredients. The pizza we’re making involves only a few - dough, asparagus and mozzarella cheese (and olive oil, pepper, salt and some Italian seasoning, but those don’t count). Pizza really is at it’s best when simplest. For the dough, you can certainly make your own - good dough is important for good pizza, and making your own is very satisfying. We often do, using either this recipe from the paupered chef, or this one from the pioneer woman.

However, in a pinch, or when we’re lazy, we’ll use some store bought dough. Surprisingly, it is usually as good as the homemade stuff. We’ve been enjoying this whole wheat dough from Whole Foods a lot lately. Just make sure your dough comes up to room temp before using. This makes it much easier to work with. One “portion” of dough is usually enough for two good sized pizzas.

Once you know what you’re doing about dough, adjust the racks in your oven and put your pizza stone as near the top as you can while still having some clearance to work with, and crank it to the highest heat, letting it warm up at least half an hour.

Often, the advice is to put the pizza stone on the bottom of the oven, but I’ve found the top of the pizza doesn’t cook as well when you do this. By putting it up top, warm air gets trapped between the stone and the roof of your oven, cooking things nicely.

Next up, we prep the asparagus - using a vegetable peeler, peel the upper, non woody part of a bunch of asparagus into long thing ribbons. Then toss these ribbons with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. We also use some Italian seasoning if we have it.



Next, put your parchment onto your pizza peel and begin stretching it out into a circle. The technique that I use is flattening the dough, then holding it like a steering wheel, slowly turning. This lets the weight of the dough stretch itself out. Keep going until it is about a half inch thick in the center. You can also adjust the shape a bit once you place the dough onto the parchment.


Next, brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Finally, top with shredded mozzarella and your asparagus mixture. Optionally, you can put an egg on as well.

Slide the pizza and parchment onto your pizza stone and set a timer for one minute.

When the minute is up, get your peel underneath the pizza, and using your kitchen tongs, pull the parchment out from underneath the pie. If the parchment doesn’t want to come out, you may need to give the pizza another 30 seconds or so to firm up.

Once your parchment is clear, give the pizza another 3 minutes or so to set up. If your oven is hot enough, five minutes is probably the longest it will take, unless you like your pizza very crispy.

Asparagus Pizza (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

One Bunch Asparagus

One Recipe Pizza Dough

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Place your pizza stone on the top rack of your oven and pre-heat as high as it will go for half an hour. At least 450°. Then peel asparagus into strips and toss with salt, pepper, olive oil and italian seasoning. Strech pizza dough into a pizza shape, and put on parchment on a pizza peel. Top with mozzarella and shaved asparagus. Optionally put an egg. Bake for one minute and slide parchment out from underneath. Bake another 3-5 minutes or until done.