TJ’s Asparagus Pizza

A beautiful, fresh asparagus pizza. Slightly charred asparagus tips, but still soft in the middle.
I asked TJ where he got the recipe and he said that the original recipe is from the blog Smitten Kitchen. I looked that up and here is the link so that they get the credit. It’s another great pizza! We love pizza, don’t we?! You can find the original recipe here: http://smittenkitchen.com.

Put more asparagus on than you think…
Following is TJ’s email about his version of the Smitten Kitchen’s Version of an Asparagus Pizza.
TJ’s Email and the Asparagus Pizza Recipe:

The asparagus melts down into the cheese.
Very simple.
I spread out my dough to the desired size.
Brush the entire dough with olive oil that has fresh garlic or powder or, like last time both, I also add a small amount of sugar to the oil.
Top typically with full fat cheese blend of the day, motz and provolone, motz and Munster, or all three; my sister really likes to use fresh mozzarella hunks. Whatever looks good.
Top cheese with Asparagus. One of the coolest things I learned in a long time was to use a vegetable peeler to make thin ribbons of asparagus. Place the asparagus on a cutting board holding the woody end as a handle and push the peeler firmly away to the head of the spear to produce these beautiful ribbons of spring. I blot my asparagus dry with a paper towel; too much moisture leads to a runny end-product.

A little Chili oil would go well drizzled over this pizza.
Sprinkle fresh Parmesan over the asparagus.
Cook until done in the hottest oven possible.
Play around with it, experiment with different cheese, pepper flakes more or less oil etc. etc.
This is a great time of year for fresh asparagus!
*Note from Brad: As you can see from my pictures, I varied from TJ’s version right off the bat. And, so the evolution continues. I used some “Herb Oil” I had made and that worked out really nicely. I also used a mixture of Provolone and Mozzarella because I had that on hand. But, as TJ says, “Play around with it!” and, I did. I hope you do as well.
Enjoy!!!
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Wow! Great looking pizza! I love asparagus and this is a nice way of showcasing it on a pizza, thanks!
It was delicious! As I look back at this, I think a nice chili oil drizzled over it would be nice.
Chili oil does sound intriguing. Have you tried pesto sauce on your pizzas? It is a favorite of mine, I wonder if it would overwhelm the flavor of the asparagus though? I should see…..
I have not done a pesto pizza yet. For this one, maybe used sparingly it would work. I would think you’d want something to stand up and shout on top of the pesto and asparagus…like the chili oil, or a little thinly sliced spicy sopressata, or even some nice prosciutto cotto. Let us know how it goes.
Brad,
Wow it was really tons of fun to see your latest post on Pizza Quest that included the asparagus pizza! I think it all came together very nicely. Hopefully others will participate more actively when they realize how accessible you guys are and how enjoyable it can be to share the quest. I was in Boulder Colorado for a wedding a couple of weeks ago and because I enjoyed the Pizzeria Basta stuff so much from the site my family and I decided to have lunch there. It was really a wonderful experience and has given me lots of ideas and inspiration. I’m making the Burrata appetizer from Basta this weekend with my family, it really put a smile on our faces at the restaurant hopefully it does the same at home.
My oven was completed last week so I should have lots of ideas and hopefully inspiration to share soon.
Thanks again for the great article and for Pizza Quest,
TJ