I recently made a trek out to Allen's asparagus acres and learned how asparagus grows. It was amazing. I had no idea the stalks just stuck out of the ground like that. So with a brand new insight for this vegetable, I set out to find some equally interesting uses for it, and found this one at Smitten Kitchen. I was intrigued by the idea of "shaving" asparagus.
I gathered up the ingredients. I didn't realize till later, that all my ingredients are locally made or grown. This makes my pizza even greener!
Asparagus (from the farmer's market)
Scallions (also from the farmer's market)
pizza dough (pesto dough from Metcalfes)
mozzarella (fresh, BelGioioso from WI)
Applewood smoked bacon (Nueske's, also from WI)
Assembling the pizza was quick and easy.
Roll out the dough. I don't have a pizza stone. I use my all purpose baking sheet, lined with foil.
Brush the dough with a bit of olive oil.
Spread on hunks of cheese.
Pile on the shaved asparagus and some sliced scallions.
The bacon is optional, but I highly recommend it.
The pizza bakes for about 20 mins at 375ยบ, or till crust is nice and crunchy.
Voila! This is by far the most delicious pizza I've ever made. The slinky slivers of asparagus are still nice and crunchy and the bacon gives it that extra oomph! The only thing I would change on this next time (and there will definitely be a next time) is to chop the asparagus shavings into 1 inch pieces. That way when I bite into a slice, I don't end up stripping my pizza of shavings and have all of them dangling out of my mouth!
Its a great summer pizza, and as Smitten Kitchen recommends, I wouldn't mind trying it out on my grill someday.
Good Eatings!
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