So, it started with Smitten, while I was away. I thought about and thought the likelihood of getting really good reliable stuff in the Caribbean and thought, ‘No, not yet.‘ Then I was visiting my grandmother in Niagara Falls when I saw some top notch green. But, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t approve. Then, Feisty did it too. And, I started to think about it some more and then I saw some at the market on Friday which looked first class and I thought, ‘If everyone else is doing it, maybe I should too.’
I thought I was pretty cool, getting there early enough to score. Even if it was unintentional and I was really just hoping to bump into Wanda and a bag of her wonderful lettuce. But, there I was, Tilly in the sling, looking back, over my shoulder to make sure there was no one chasing me to my car. I had bought not just one but two. I was worried that if anyone unlucky enough to be too far back in the queue found out, they would be after me. After me and my asparagus.
We love asparagus, even Stephen, provided it has been drizzled with melted butter. Poppy has just developed a fondness for raw asparagus. And, all Tilly has eaten for a week and a half is asparagus and banana. Anything that lets us captures this has to be good.
SmittenKitchen’s was drop dead gorgeous, as pretty much anything she does is. Feisty Chef’s was local and she cooked it on the barbecue which has inspired me to experiment more with my barbecue, not today though. I was reluctant to put something out there that would draw such obvious comparison but it was just too damn delicious not too.
I used my usual pizza dough recipe, but substituted spelt flour. This made the crust biscuity crisp. I don’t like doughy or bready pizza, so it was perfect. The best thing is, the dough rolls out so thinly and easily this way that we had enough to make some cheesy garlic pizza for a certain four year old.
I didn’t have any mozzarella and Poppy was shouting,‘Asiago, I only want asiago,’ but I wasn’t sold on the idea. I had some plain Foxhill quark which, I was pretty sure would just lend a creaminess without mucking about with the flavour of the asparagus.
I almost picked some sorrel because I thought it might add a little lemony zing, but, again, I just wanted to taste the asparagus so, much to Poppy’s delight, I decided on some roughly chopped fresh chives.
The asparagus I had was really thin. It would be much easier to shave if it was a little bulkier and you probably won’t need as many spears. Smitten thinks you could do this with a mandolin. I can’t imagine that you would escape with all ten fingertips. The vegetable peeler is the way forward for me.
And then, we rushed to get it all done so we could watch our Stephen cross a continent while we ate.
Shaved Asparagus Pizza with Spelt Crust
7 grams (1 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
125 ml (1/2 cup) warm water
240 grams (1 1/3 + 1/4 cup) spelt flour (or bread flour)*
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
22-24 spears skinny asparagus
225 grams ( a little under a cup) plain Foxhill quark (ricotta would be great)
Roughly chopped chives
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper
Shaved Parmesan
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Put yeast, honey and water in a small bowl and let sit for 5-10 minutes, until yeast blooms.
Meanwhile, put flour and salt in the bowl of mixer with a dough hook attachment, or in a medium sized bowl with a wooden spoon
When yeast is ready, add it to the flour with the 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
Mix everything together. If you are using a stand mixer, knead for a few minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. If you are doing it by hand, you’ll have to knead a bit longer but your arm muscles will thank you.
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Let rise about an hour, until doubled in size.
While the dough rises, you can shave the asparagus in long strips, hold on to the tough end and run the peeler down the length.
After the dough has risen, preheat oven to 425º.
Punch down the dough.
Lightly oil a pizza pan or heat up a pizza stone.
Roll out the dough to a 12” circle, I didn’t need any flour, you may want to lightly dust your work surface with flour. Put it on the pan or on a pizza peel if you are using a stone.
Spread the quark on top and season it with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the chives. Top with the shaved asparagus.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden around the edges and you can see the very edges of the asparagus just starting to brown.
Remove from the oven, top with parmesan and extra virgin olive oil and serve.
*And, if anyone would like to take care of the math for me, it would be much appreciated.
