Asparagus is one of those ingredients that you probably never considered for pizza, but now you immediately want to try it. It is not an ideal choice for pairing with a red sauce, where the vegetal flavor of asparagus can be overwhelmed by the acidic and sweet tomatoes, but if you are in the mood for white pizza, it is ideal. Paired with creamy cheeses, white sauces, and garlic, you have the beginning of real primavera pizza, where asparagus can play the star or be paired with more fresh, green spring ingredients. Since it’s not a standard topping, you might not realize how to prepare asparagus for pizza — especially since its fibrous texture will present a problem if it’s not fully cooked through. That’s why you need to make sure it’s sliced thin enough or precooked enough before it goes on your pie.
The latter method is probably the easiest for a first-time asparagus pizza maker. After trimming off the woody ends of the asparagus spears, chop them into bite- sized chunks, and then slice those pieces down lengthwise to cut them in half. Then lightly cook the asparagus pieces in a pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper until just getting tender, about eight minutes. This will ensure that it will still get completely cooked through when it is finished on your pizza, even though most pizza’s cooking time is quite short. Don’t overcook in the pan though, because you don’t want mushy asparagus after the second cook on your pizza.
For a perfect pizza, saute chopped asparagus or shave it thinly
The other option lets you skip the pre-cooking entirely — that is, if you can cut your asparagus thin enough. Instead of slicing, use a ribboning technique on your asparagus by shaving it with a vegetable peeler. Then you can toss your asparagus ribbons with salt and olive oil and they will be thin enough to cook right on your pizza. Distribute the ribbons loosely over the pizza so that some edges of the ribbons will be exposed and get some nice charring, too. Done this way the asparagus will cook very quickly, so this technique will work best with thinner or Neapolitan-style pizzas that all cook fast. On thicker crust pan pizzas that take 10 minutes or more to cook, this style of asparagus might get too mushy.
Either prep method for asparagus pizza will work great, so now you can focus on exactly what you are pairing it with. Ricotta is a classic white pizza topping that’s always wonderful with asparagus. This veggie isn’t ideal for tomato sauce, but they will pair well with fresh sliced or cherry tomatoes. It also gets a nice boost from strongly flavored fresh herbs, like dill, which can be added after cooking. Finally, if you do want a little meat, bacon and prosciutto both have a pungent salty flavor that will balance out the fresh asparagus. Chopped or shaved, you may have just found your next favorite white pizza topping.
