If ever there were a food that was in vogue, I would say that this spring’s winner would be shaved asparagus.  I had never seen such a preparation before but this spring, I have seen in pop up in all manner of recipes.  Simple salads, side dishes, and atop pizzas, to name a few.  Now I really like asparagus made in the traditional way with the spears intact, but I’ve been buying it just about every week through our produce delivery service, so I am happy to find more things to do with it.  I think that chunks of full asparagus spears are just a little too much on a pizza so this method is genius.  You get all the great flavor of asparagus without thick, tough stems or having to worry about pre-cooking it in some way.  When I first saw this I assumed special equipment such as a mandoline was necessary (I recently bought one but have yet to use it.)  Nope, nothing special here!  Just a few quick strokes of a vegetable peeler and your pizza is assembled in minutes.

For me, this combination of cheeses is what really made the pizza sing.  The garlic herb cheese added a lot of flavor as well as a light, creamy texture.  Boursin is widely available but if you are local, try the garden herb fromage blanc from Trader’s Point Creamy.  I love that stuff!  All in all this was a nice new way for me to enjoy the bounty of local asparagus.  Now I am looking forward to trying some of the other variations of shaved asparagus in salads and such, but I know we’ll be making this pizza again and again.

  • Yield about 6-8 slices

Ingredients

Pizza dough
Olive oil, for brushing
8 oz. asparagus spears
4 oz. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
3 oz. spreadable garlic herb cheese, such as Boursin or Trader’s Point Creamery garden herb fromage blanc
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

  • 01

    Preheat the oven and a pizza stone at 500˚ F for at least 30 minutes.  Roll out the pizza dough into a 12-14 inch round.  Lightly brush the surface of the dough with olive oil.

  • 02

    Cut the tough woody stems off the ends of the asparagus spears.  Use a vegetable peeler to shave the spears into ribbons.  You likely will not need all of the asparagus, but use more ribbons than you think you need because it will cook down in the oven.

  • 03

    Place the sliced mozzarella over the pizza dough in an even layer.  Pile the asparagus shavings over the top of the mozzarella.  Dot the surface of the pizza with the garlic herb cheese.  Season with kosher salt and pepper.

  • 04

    Transfer the pizza to the preheated pizza stone and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the crust is lightly browned, about 12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before slicing and serving.

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