Roasted Asparagus and Truffle Oil Pizza

Seeing as how my last post was for The Best Ever Pizza Dough, I thought it only appropriate for next to be an actual Pizza. Since I started making pizza's at home I have tried several different types and this is just one of the many I will share with you, my readers, over time. The more I cook the more I am coming to the realization that simple is just as good as complex when it comes to food. You dont always need to have so many ingredients that it makes it hard to keep track of what you are doing. Enter this very simple yet very good pizza. Its no secret that I love asparagus so it was only natural that I put it on a pizza. In the beginning of trying to come up with good a ingredient list for my asparagus pizza I was not sure what to add to it. Asparagus has a really unique taste yet, in my opinnion, is not a very strong one. So with that I didnt want to put to many bold flavors on this pizza as I wanted the asparagus to be the star with the rest of the ingredients playing backup and adding to the overall flavors. First things first, a marinara style sauce was out, as was any other kind of "sauce". I just felt any kind of sauce would take to much away from the asparagus and just cover it up. So in keeping with my simpler is better I settled on a light drizzle of a good quality olive oil over the dough. And then followed that up with a healthy dose of fresh minced garlic, no vampires were going to be eating this pizza! Next was the cheese, all of the pizza's I make have at least a light sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, so that was added as well. But I also figured why not shave some fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on the pizza after it comes out of the oven. At this point I had a feeling I was onto something good, not to complex, easy, and most of all flavorful. But I was still thinking I could add one more shot of flavor to the pizza so I began to rumage through the pantry and the spice cabinet. Not much caught my eye until I came across a little bottle of oil, White Truffle Oil to be exact. A little light bulb went off and my search was over for my last addition to this pizza. The only thing with truffle oil though is that is can be very overwhelming if over used. Here less is more, if you over do the drizzle of truffle oil you run the risk over it overpowering everything else. Now if you dont have access to white truffle oil you can surely leave it out, or you could even just drizzle a little more high quality olive oil over the top. But I really suggest trying it with the truffle oil, which in reality is pretty affordable and can be found at most food stores. I really do hope that if you decide to try this pizza that you like it as much I do and the others who have tried it. Happy Pizza making from my kitchen to yours!

Ingredients (Makes 1 Pizza)

1 lb. Best Ever Pizza Dough

1 Bunch Asparagus (washed and ends removed)

Freshly Grated Mozzarella (I suggest using whole milk, low moisture, such as Precious)

Parmiggiano-Regiano

2-3 Cloves of Garlic, minced (more if you like!)

1 1/2 Tbsp high quality Olive Oil

White Truffle Oil

Corn Meal

Method

1. Sprinkle a little flour over the top of your chilled dough and using a serated knife cut off a 1lb. piece of the dough (about the size of a grape fruit). Quickly turn the edges of the dough inwards rotating dough until a nice ball has formed. Set aside and let rest at room temp for at least 30 minutes

2. While dough is resting place a pizza stone in your oven and preheat the oven to as hot as it can get, mine goes up to 550 (let it preheat for at least 20min). If you dont have a pizza stone you could bake the pizza on a cookie sheet it just wont get as crusty on the bottom. If this is the case you dont need to preheat your oven as long

3. This step is optional as it depends on how you like your asparagus cooked. If you like it a little more crunchy you can skip this step but if you like it a little more tender and with some nice roasted ends continue on. Personally I usually par roast my asparagus spears for a few minutes in the preheated oven to make sure they get done and tender. Lay them all out in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 3 minutes. This can also be done the night before.

4.Once your dough has rested it should be able to be strecthed and hold its shape (if it pulls back while shaping let it rest for a little longer). Sprinkle a little corn meal onto a pizza peel, or a cookie sheet, and begin shaping your dough into a circle. I like to do this on a seperate cutting board. You can use a rolling pin, your hands, or whatever you like to get it into a circle. I  make mine about 10-12 inches in diameter. If you go larger, which is fine, it will just make a thinner crusted pizza

5. Once your dough has been formed into a circle place it on the corn meal dusted pizza peel or cookie sheet

6. Start by drizzling your olive oil onto the newly formed round and spread it out as even as possible using a brush, next sprinkle on your minced garlic, followed by the mozzarella cheese. Lastly lay out your par cooked asparagus spears on top of the cheese. You can arange them any way you like

7. Place pizza in your oven and cook for 10-12 minutes. This time will of course vary depending on how hot your oven gets, wether or not you are using a pizza stone and how done you like you cheese and crust. I find for my oven with the stone this timing works for most of the pizzas I make. If you are unsure start checking on the donenesss of the pizza at about 8-9 minutes in and see how things are doing

8. When pizza reaches desired doneness remove from oven and let sit for a couple minutes then shave the parmiggiano-reggiano cheese over the top with a vegetable peeler, followed by a light drizzle of the truffle oil. Slice pizza with a pizza wheel or large knife and enjoy!