Asparagus has never been hard to cook. You could steam it or blanch it or roast it or grill it .... Years ago, I was at a restaurant that served it shaved raw into ribbons, dressed only with lemon, olive oil, and Parmesan, and this changed asparagus for me. Never had it tasted so green and vibrant; never had it looked so little like logs on a plate, but rather an elegant heap of twisted ribbons.
Throwing things onto a pizza dough with cheese doesn’t always make something transcendent, but this one exceeded expectations: tangled and grassy, bubbly and lightly charred, accented with mild bites of scallion, the raw asparagus wilted from the heat of the baked pizza. It became something to look forward to when the first stalks of asparagus appear after a winter too long, too cold, and too filled with formats of squash and greens.
Ingredients
- ½ pound (225 grams) asparagus
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon coarse salt
- Several grinds of black pepper
- One ¾-pound pizza dough, ready to go
- ¼ cup (¾ ounce or 20 grams) grated Parmesan
- ½ pound (225 grams) mozzarella, shredded or cut into small cubes
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
Preparation
Preheat your oven to its highest temperature—about 500 degrees in most cases. If you use a pizza stone, place it in the oven.
Prepare asparagus: No need to snap off the ends; they can be your “handles” as you peel the asparagus. Holding a single asparagus spear by its tough end, lay it flat on a cutting board. Use a vegetable peeler; a Y-shaped peeler works best here, but I’ve successfully made this with a standard old and dull peeler, so don’t fret if you don’t have a newer one; a mandoline would also work, in theory, but I found it more difficult to use for this.
With your peeler of choice, create long shavings of asparagus by drawing the peeler from the base to the top of the asparagus stalk. Repeat with remaining stalks, and don’t fret if some pieces are unevenly thick (such as the end of the stalk, which might be too thin to peel); the mixed textures give the pizza character. Discard the tough ends.
Toss the peelings with olive oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl, and be sure to try one—I bet you can hardly believe how good raw asparagus can taste.
Assemble and bake pizza: Roll or stretch out the dough to a 12-inch round. Transfer either to a floured or cornmeal-dusted pizza peel (if using a pizza stone in the oven) or to a floured or cornmeal-dusted baking sheet. Sprinkle pizza dough with Parmesan, then mozzarella. Pile the asparagus on top.
Bake the pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are browned, the cheese is bubbly, and the asparagus might be lightly charred. Remove from the oven, immediately sprinkle with scallions, then slice and eat.
About this recipe
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Wisdom from an Obsessed Home Cook by Deb Perelman
Copyright © 2012 by Deb Perelman. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
