5.04.2011

Asparagus and Chicken Pizza


Ok.  I realize that it has been absolutely for-ev-er since I have done a post on here.  Not that I haven't been cooking, because I have been doing lots of that, life has just been getting in the way of blogging lately.  I've been working 3-in-a-rows (Pretty much takes away 3 days of getting anything productive accomplished), have had family in town, and have been working on the nursery (which is turning out awesome, and I will post some pics soon I promise!)

But really, no matter how busy my day or week is, I can almost always find the time to make dinner...sometimes that means us eating at 8 or 9 at night and having no daylight left to take good pictures with, but that's ok right?  Asparagus.  Let's just talk about asparagus for a second.  It's one of our favorite veggies.  It is in season in the spring, and I always forget about it until I see it in stores and remember how much I like it.  It's pretty strong tasting, earthy and delicious.  It also makes your urine smell funny.  Does that happen to anyone else, or just us?  It's filled with lots of vitamins, including folate, potassium and vitamin C.     
We usually just eat our asparagus whole and steamed, topped with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I wanted to try something different with it, so I decided to make pizza.  Chicken, asparagus and cheese pizza.  It's amazing.  Even the babies enjoyed it, they let me know by doing some huge wrestling moves after the energy burst from the asparagus.  (see them in the bottom left corner of the above picture?  I couldn't get a pic without them in it). 

This pizza is super good and really easy.  I made my own dough, because, well, I like making dough from scratch, but it would be even easier if you had a premade dough!


No-Fail Pizza Dough

1 1/2 flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp olive oil

Stir together the flour, salt and yeast.  Add water and olive oil until the mixture comes together enough to form a messy ball of dough.  Put in all onto a floured surface a knead it until it comes together into a better more cohesive ball of dough.  Then knead it for just a few minutes more.  Lightly oil a large bowl, put the dough in it, and flip it around a few times to get it coated in the oil.  Cover with plastic wrap, set it in a warm place and let it rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size. 

After it has risen, put it onto a floured surface, and flatten it out to get out the air.  Fold it into a loose ball shape, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise about 20 mins more.  Sprinkle a pizza stone or baking sheet with cornmeal.  and preheat the oven to about 500.  

Chicke Asparagus Pizza
Bunch of asparagus (about 10 stalks)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp roasted garlic
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
Pepper

Roll out the dough to as thin as you would like the pizza.  Then go crazy with the toppings!  For this pizza, I smeared olive oil all over the dough, then put on some roasted garlic.  I then put a layer of mozzarella cheese, some shredded chicken and shaved asparagus.  Then I added more cheese, some freshly shredded parmesan and some ricotta.  Topped it all off with a generous sprinkling of pepper and let it bake in the oven for about 15 mins, until the cheese started to brown and the dough is light gold. 

     

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