{"id":402,"date":"2011-07-18T22:02:06","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T02:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/2011\/07\/18\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/"},"modified":"2011-07-18T22:02:06","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T02:02:06","slug":"tjs-asparagus-pizza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/","title":{"rendered":"TJ’s Asparagus Pizza"},"content":{"rendered":"

A beautiful, fresh asparagus pizza. Slightly charred asparagus tips, but still soft in the middle.<\/p><\/div>I have been corresponding through our email with a Pizza Quester named TJ about making the Buonchristiani Lamb Sausage with Fennel Pizza.\u00a0 TJ asked a few questions and then went off and had great success making the pizza\u00a0 (that really is one that you have to try — I love that pizza!).\u00a0 In one of TJ’s emails he told me about one of his own favorite pizzas.\u00a0 It’s a thinly shaved asparagus pizza.\u00a0 Right there, that sounded really interesting, so, I thought I would give it a try. (in other words, he had me at “shaved asparagus”)<\/p>\n

I asked TJ where he got the recipe and he said that the original recipe is from the blog Smitten Kitchen.\u00a0 I looked that up and here is the link so that they get the credit.\u00a0 It’s another great pizza!\u00a0 We love pizza, don’t we?!\u00a0 You can find the original recipe here: http:\/\/smittenkitchen.com.<\/p>\n

Put more asparagus on than you think…<\/p><\/div>I am going to use TJ’s own words to tell you how to make this pizza.\u00a0 I think it demonstrates a couple of things.\u00a0 The first, and most important thing, is simply this: passion.\u00a0 This pizza is a perfect example of how important these simple passions are to our daily lives.\u00a0 We keep ourselves younger by engaging our minds with tasks that push us to learn, or grow in some way.\u00a0 TJ and I have never met, and may never meet, but we connected and engaged in this shared passion.\u00a0 I hope that experience is enriching for both of us, I know it was for me.\u00a0 And, the second interesting thing is this: that any recipe can be taken and should be interpreted, adapted, and adjusted for each individual.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Following is TJ’s email about his version of the Smitten Kitchen’s Version of an Asparagus Pizza. <\/p>\n

TJ’s Email and the Asparagus Pizza Recipe:<\/p>\n

The asparagus melts down into the cheese.<\/p><\/div>The asparagus pizza is originally from Smitten Kitchen.\u00a0 My entire family loves the pizza. My mom had me over last week to make it as an appetizer for her card club and they loved it also.\u00a0 I have made it primarily using Peter’s country wheat dough but it works nicely on a traditional dough also.<\/p>\n

Very simple.<\/p>\n

I spread out my dough to the desired size.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Top cheese with Asparagus.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I blot my asparagus dry with a paper towel; too much moisture leads to a runny end-product.<\/p>\n

A little Chili oil would go well drizzled over this pizza.<\/p><\/div>Lightly toss the asparagus with olive oil salt and pepper.\u00a0 Not too much olive oil.<\/p>\n

Sprinkle fresh Parmesan over the asparagus.<\/p>\n

Cook until done in the hottest oven possible.<\/p>\n

Play around with it, experiment with different cheese, pepper flakes more or less oil etc. etc.<\/p>\n

This is a great time of year for fresh asparagus!<\/p>\n

*Note from Brad:<\/strong> As you can see from my pictures, I varied from TJ’s version right off the bat.\u00a0 And, so the evolution continues.\u00a0 I used some “Herb Oil” I had made and that worked out really nicely.\u00a0 I also used a mixture of Provolone and Mozzarella because I had that on hand.\u00a0 But, as TJ says, “Play around with it!” and, I did.\u00a0 I hope you do as well.<\/p>\n

Enjoy!!!<\/p>\n

{gallery}asparaguspizza{\/gallery}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been corresponding through our email with a Pizza Quester named TJ about making the Buonchristiani Lamb Sausage with Fennel Pizza.\u00a0 TJ asked a few questions and then went off and had great success making the pizza\u00a0 (that really is one that you have to try — I love that pizza!).\u00a0 In one of TJ’s emails he told me about one of his own favorite pizzas.\u00a0 It’s a thinly…Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":351,"featured_media":398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-written-recipes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTJ's Asparagus Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TJ's Asparagus Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have been corresponding through our email with a Pizza Quester named TJ about making the Buonchristiani Lamb Sausage with Fennel Pizza.\u00a0 TJ asked a few questions and then went off and had great success making the pizza\u00a0 (that really is one that you have to try — I love that pizza!).\u00a0 In one of TJ’s emails he told me about one of his own favorite pizzas.\u00a0 It’s a thinly...Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PizzaQuestFornoBravo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-19T02:02:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2011\/07\/_mg_6157.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad English\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad English\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/\",\"name\":\"TJ's Asparagus Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-19T02:02:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-19T02:02:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/5c45b9d10b57201e2ba13337f1724018\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TJ’s Asparagus Pizza\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/\",\"name\":\"Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\",\"description\":\"A journey of self-discovery through pizza.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/5c45b9d10b57201e2ba13337f1724018\",\"name\":\"Brad English\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f997b270bc5efdfb1b6bf71fedbd9f7e?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f997b270bc5efdfb1b6bf71fedbd9f7e?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brad English\"},\"description\":\"Brad English is a producer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been in the business for over 24 years working on a wide range of projects that have taken him all over the country and to many parts of the globe. He loves to travel and cook for his friends and family. He discovered Peter Reinhart one day while searching the internet to find a way to make a better pizza crust and bought Peter\u2019s book: \u201cAmerican Pie, My Search for the Perfect Pizza\u201d. \u201cAs I read the opening section of the book called, \u201cThe Hunt,\u201d I knew right away that this had to be a show. I was actually jealous as I read about Peter traveling around the world going to all these amazing pizzerias and getting behind the scenes with the pizzaiolos!\u201d Within a few days he had contacted his friend, fellow producer, and fierce Competitive Restaurant Ordering rival, Jeff Michael. They contacted Peter to see if he was interested in taking this show on the road.\u00a0 The Quest had begun.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/author\/brad-english\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TJ's Asparagus Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TJ's Asparagus Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart","og_description":"I have been corresponding through our email with a Pizza Quester named TJ about making the Buonchristiani Lamb Sausage with Fennel Pizza.\u00a0 TJ asked a few questions and then went off and had great success making the pizza\u00a0 (that really is one that you have to try — I love that pizza!).\u00a0 In one of TJ’s emails he told me about one of his own favorite pizzas.\u00a0 It’s a thinly...Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/","og_site_name":"Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PizzaQuestFornoBravo\/","article_published_time":"2011-07-19T02:02:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2011\/07\/_mg_6157.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Brad English","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brad English","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/","name":"TJ's Asparagus Pizza - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-19T02:02:06+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-19T02:02:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/5c45b9d10b57201e2ba13337f1724018"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/tjs-asparagus-pizza\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TJ’s Asparagus Pizza"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/","name":"Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart","description":"A journey of self-discovery through pizza.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/5c45b9d10b57201e2ba13337f1724018","name":"Brad English","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f997b270bc5efdfb1b6bf71fedbd9f7e?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f997b270bc5efdfb1b6bf71fedbd9f7e?s=96&r=g","caption":"Brad English"},"description":"Brad English is a producer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been in the business for over 24 years working on a wide range of projects that have taken him all over the country and to many parts of the globe. He loves to travel and cook for his friends and family. He discovered Peter Reinhart one day while searching the internet to find a way to make a better pizza crust and bought Peter\u2019s book: \u201cAmerican Pie, My Search for the Perfect Pizza\u201d. \u201cAs I read the opening section of the book called, \u201cThe Hunt,\u201d I knew right away that this had to be a show. I was actually jealous as I read about Peter traveling around the world going to all these amazing pizzerias and getting behind the scenes with the pizzaiolos!\u201d Within a few days he had contacted his friend, fellow producer, and fierce Competitive Restaurant Ordering rival, Jeff Michael. They contacted Peter to see if he was interested in taking this show on the road.\u00a0 The Quest had begun.","url":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/author\/brad-english\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/351"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}