Pizza was not something that I grew up with. It was my husband who introduced me to pizza when we met in college. While I grew up with Vietnamese food, Vu grew up with American food. I credit him for my love of pizza as well as Italian food. A few years ago, we began making pizza at home and started experimenting with seasonal ingredients to expand our arsenal of pizza recipes. It’s been a very rewarding journey in pizza making.
Today, we’re sharing one of our favorite vegetarian pizzas--wild ramps pesto pizza with asparagus, peas, and ricotta. Everything is homemade from the pizza dough, to ricotta cheese, and wild ramps and hazelnut pesto. All the flavors marry together and sing of spring.
Wild ramps pesto pizza
8 oz pizza dough
Semonia or all purpose flour for dusting
½ cup shredded mozzarella
¼ cup homemade ricotta cheese (recipe here)
2 tbsps wild ramp and hazelnut pesto (recipe here)
¼ cup fresh/frozen peas
5-6 spears of young asparagus
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 chive blossoms
1. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. It will take about 15 minutes for the pizza stone to heat up.
2. Lightly dust a clean work surface with semolina or flour. Roll out the pizza dough into a rough 12x6 inch oval about ¼ inch thick.
3. Transfer the pizza base to a piece of parchment paper.
4. Prick the base with a fork, place the pizza on the lowest rack, and bake for 7 minutes. Leaving the pizza on the lowest rack helps crisp the base.
5. Remove pizza base from the oven. Spread the wild ramp pesto evenly over the base leaving a ¼ inch border.
6. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the pesto. Top with asparagus and peas. Dot the top with ricotta cheese. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
7. Transfer the pizza onto the heated stone and bake for 10 minutes or until golden and crisp.
8. When done, transfer the pizza onto a serving plate and top with cut chive blossoms.
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