Maturity is not all it’s cracked up to be. Except for the spring vegetable pizza. It’s a pie worth growing old for. (Catch the original essay that will make sense of that statement here, and here's the proscuitto arugula pizza we had at Primo. This spring vegetable is a flavorful artisan pizza with loads of roasted asparagus, tarragon- and parsley-flecked mushrooms, and just a little cheese.
Tip
Tarragon has a strong, almost licorice-like flavor that we love. If you're not into it, double the parsley or sprinkle some snipped chives onto the pizza after baking.
Want to make your own crust?
Here's our favorite New York-style pizza dough recipe.
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Spring Vegetable Pizza with Asparagus and Mushrooms
This is a flavorful artisan pizza with loads of roasted asparagus, tarragon- and parsley-flecked mushrooms, and just a little cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 lb. cremini mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
- 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
- Big pinch salt
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 bunch thin-stemmed asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
- 1 ball pizza dough (about 22 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 4 ounces good Gruyere cheese, shredded
- ¼ cup grated pecorino romano
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500°F with a rack in the center. If you have a pizza stone, preheat it on the center rack. (If not, you can use an overturned half sheet pan.)
- In a 12-inch nonstick frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms, garlic and salt and raise heat to high. Toss mushrooms to coat with butter. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until they are beginning to brown in spots and have significantly reduced in volume. Add wine and cook until all the liquid is gone. Stir in heavy cream, asparagus and tarragon, reduce the heat to simmer briskly, and cook for an addition couple of minutes, until the cream has thickened to coat the vegetables without dripping.
- Rub pizza dough with olive oil and divide into two equal portions. Stretch each portion into a 12-inch round. I like to place each round on a piece of parchment to make transfer to and from the oven much easier. Top each with half the vegetable mixture, half the gruyere and half the pecorino. Bake for about 1o minutes, until dough is crisp on the underside and cheese is bubbly. (I bake one pizza at a time, putting the second one in the oven as we sit down to eat the first.) Sprinkle with parsley and pepper. Cut into slices and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 546Total Fat: 15.5gCarbohydrates: 81.9gFiber: 9.8gProtein: 20.5g
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Sandys Pizza Delivery says
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Gemma Hardter says
nice post
Michelle says
Amazing post Carolyn! I stumbled across it looking for a pizza with lots of mushrooms. I'll be making something similar tonight, thanks for the inspiration!
Carolyn says
Hi Wilma, thanks for visiting! I'm so glad you liked the pizza.
Wilma Klinedinst says
I was hungry for pizza last week. After spotting the fresh asparagus in the fridge, I started wondering if anyone had some inspiration for an asparagus pizza. That google found the best pizza my husband had ever had and your website, which I adore. Humor and good food are my favorites!
Carolyn says
Welcome, new commenters, and thank you!
Bic, I love the IFA. So glad you're enjoying this site as well.
Anticiplate, I saw that recipe in BA after posting this and almost made it on Mother's Day. Next time! Thanks for the link.
Anticiplate says
I am making a version of this tonight! But instead of mushrooms (which I somehow don't ever think I will like unless they are soaked in butter) I am adding goat cheese and fingerling potatoes (inspired by BA Mag). Glad I found your site:) You can thank Maggie from Pithy and Cleaver.
Bic says
Came here for the first time via IFA.
Great site, Carolyn. I've bookmarked it.
That pizza sounds delicious--and looks beautiful! I plan on making it very soon.
Jude says
That's a nice little pizza for grown ups. Not too keen on the heavily laden soggy calorie bombs anymore.
Slow-1 says
Hi Carolyn, our storage for our stone is easy. We just leave it in our oven all the time at our studio.
One problem though is it always smells like dough or pizza when we pre-heat the oven for "other" foods. Oh what a let down when looking in oven expecting a pizza.
BTW, nice looking pizza
Carolyn says
Oh, thank you so much for all the nice comments.
Terry, the fact that something I wrote reminded someone of Dylan, for whatever reason, probably means I should close up shop right now while I'm ahead. Also, that way I wouldn't have to worry as much about the impact on my credibility when I say that we like that frozen Whole Foods pizza dough a lot, too, and use it sometimes. I'd even go so far as to say that we were pretty proud of ourselves for discovering it. Shh.
Terry B says
Great story, Carolyn, and beautiful pizza! You may have just shamed me into making my own crust instead of letting Whole Foods do it [although at $2.50 a pop to save the time, effort and preplanning, maybe not quite yet]. Regarding your signs of maturity sneaking up on you, the judgmental young woman in the pizza place reminds me of a great line in an old Bob Dylan song: "But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
Jill says
C -
I don't really know what to say except that I LOVE YOU! 🙂 I LOVE your post... I LOVE your Pizza! I want your Pizza... NOW... for breakfast! I refuse to grow up! LOL!
See you soon!
J
Elizabeth says
hello - my first time on your site....loving it! And this pizza looks fantastic...will be making this!
Ginger says
Your pizza looks amazing!! I love the white wine and fresh tarragon. Of course your photos are awesome!!
Laura Flowers says
I love putting asparagus on my pizzas! What a beautiful post.
Pizzas are by far my favorite food to create. A blank canvas of dough fuels my imagination. This creativity is such a non-linear process for me that it makes these pizzas my least favorite recipes to write out.
MomVee says
FWIW, although I'm not big on my stone for pizza, it's outstanding for making naan.
Carolyn says
Maggie and MomVee, thank you! I love it so much when people talk to each other in comments. Although now I'm sort of sad to have a pizza stone. Maggie, I would say they're fun to register for but a real bitch to store. Last night I preheated the broiler forgetting the stone was in the oven and ended up broiling some eggs in ramekins, on a pan, on the stone, about 2 feet from the heat. So there's that in the "con" column.
Michaela, I have yet to make it to the Herbfarm, but I am becoming increasingly obsessed with the Pacific Northwest and love taking food-inspired vacations. So it's only a matter of time.
MomVee says
I _lurrrve_ this post.
Maggie, my large family obliges me to make two pies every time I make pizza: one in my wedding-present cast iron pan and one on the stone. Psst! I like the pan pizzas better.
michaela says
we've been making pizza almost every week with what we've got for spring like toppings!
i noticed you like the herbfarm cookbook. have you been there? i was there a couple months ago and it was amazing.
maggie (p&c) says
Not having acquired a pizza stone (or several other trappings of adulthood), I've done a little pizzamaking in a cast iron pan. It works ok and probably gets hotter than a sheet pan. Should I spring for the stone?
This pizza looks lovely, and the post is beautifully written. Tarragon on a pizza sure is grown up.