{"id":5081,"date":"2014-05-23T19:40:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T23:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/?p=5081"},"modified":"2014-05-23T21:20:35","modified_gmt":"2014-05-24T01:20:35","slug":"best-pizza-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/?p=5081","title":{"rendered":"Best Pizza Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it just all comes together.<\/p>\n

Tom said when I was leaving the farm, “pick the asparagus.” The well-established asparagus patch at home is burying us in asparagus. It’s so delicious, but we’ve had so much we’re getting tired of it. But I picked a bunch planning to freeze it.<\/p>\n

Then Debbie called and said she had to work late. Supper plans were thrown askew.<\/p>\n

So what to do? A big plate of roasted asparagus? Ugh.<\/p>\n

Then I thought, “a white pizza topped with asparagus!” I turned to Google and found all sorts of recipes for pizza with asparagus. <\/p>\n

I threw it together with whatever I had on hand at the last minute. And it was easily the best pizza I’ve ever made or eaten.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it just all comes together.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I did.<\/p>\n

\nLast Minute Asparagus Pizza<\/b>
\nFor 2<\/i>
\nTurn your oven on to 350. If you have a pizza stone, put it in now.<\/p>\n

Slice the top off a head of garlic. Put it on a piece of aluminum foil and pour a bit of olive oil over the cut top. Wrap the foil around it tightly and pop it in the oven<\/p>\n

Combine in a bowl
\n1 1\/2 cups of flour
\n1\/2 cup of cornmeal (or just 2 cups of flour if you don’t have cornmeal)
\nA good pinch of kosher salt
\n1\/2 packet of yeast
\n1\/2 cup of water with a tablespoon or two of olive oil<\/p>\n

If you have a mixer with a bread hook, or a food processor, mix it until it comes together and makes a firm dough. You’ll probably have to add up to another 1\/4 cup of water. Or if you don’t have or want to use a machine, stir it all together and knead for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

Put a splash of olive oil in the bowl and roll the dough around in it. Cover with a towel and set aside.<\/p>\n

With about 1\/2 pound of asparagus, hold each spear by the thick end, and slice it thinly using a vegetable peeler. It will tear, and some pieces will be thicker. Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n

Toss the peeled asparagus with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. You can add whatever herbs or spices you like. I threw in a bit of fennel and oregano. Set aside.<\/p>\n

Grate or crumble about 1\/2 cup of cheese, whatever you have. I used half feta and half parmesan. Some mozzarella would be splendid, but I didn’t have any.<\/p>\n

If you have some onion or shallot or a leek slice it thinly and saute in some olive oil until it’s starting to brown. Set aside.<\/p>\n

Crank the oven as hot as it will go. <\/p>\n

Once it comes up to heat, the garlic ought to be getting soft, take it out of the oven and set it aside to cool.<\/p>\n

As soon as you can handle the garlic, squeeze the garlic out on a chopping block. If it’s still a little firm, chop it up with a knife.<\/p>\n

Flatten your dough into a thick round. Smear or sprinkle the garlic on it. Knead it for a bit to distribute the garlic.<\/p>\n

Roll out your pizza dough as thin as you can on a sheet of parchment paper. Brush the crust with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. <\/p>\n

Slide a cookie sheet under the parchment paper and dough and slide the parchment paper and dough into the oven.<\/p>\n

Bake until the dough is lightly browned. Slide it back onto the cookie sheet.<\/p>\n

Top with the onion, shallot, or leek (if using) and the cheese and asparagus. Pop it back into the oven. It’s probably released from the parchment paper by now, you can discard the paper.<\/p>\n

Bake until the the cheese is melty. The asparagus will probably be getting crispy in spots.<\/p>\n

Allow to cool a bit and then eat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The pictures came out a bit shaky.<\/p>\n

\"Dough<\/a>
Dough Sprinkled with Roasted Garlic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rolled<\/a>
Rolled out Dough<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Peeled<\/a>
Peeled Asparagus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sauteed<\/a>
Sauteed Leeks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Splendid Result<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it just all comes together. Tom said when I was leaving the farm, “pick the asparagus.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}