Spring Asparagus & Pea Pizza

I have a lot of time on my hands right now so I've been cooking up a storm and my favorite thing to make when I have free time is to yeast bread. There is just something about kneading the dough that I find fun and rewarding. We had plans to go to a friends house for wine so I decided to whip up some pizza dough throw together a couple little pizzas. I looked through the fridge for so I could find some yummy ingredients for pizza toppings and came across some asparagus and ricotta. I remembered seeing a picture of a pea and shaved asparagus crostini with ricotta that looked quite yummy so I decided to add in some other fixins and make a pizza out of it. This recipe make the perfect spring pizza, you can use fresh or frozen peas for this pizza and if you have extra topping fixins left over just eat them as a side dish another time. 

Ingredients
Makes 3 small pizzas

6 large asparagus
2 cups of peas (defrosted if frozen)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 pinch of salt
1 tbs olive oil (plus more for the dough)
ricotta
asiago or romano cheese
S&P
pizza dough

Use a vegetable peeler to make thin strips out of the asparagus  starting from the bottom and slicing up to the top. Do this to all of the asparagus and place in a large bowl along with the peas, onion and salt. Place a skillet on the stove and turn to medium heat. Toss the vegetables in 1 tbs of olive oil and saute for 2-3 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 425. Prepare your pizza dough and place it on a baking sheet or stone so it is ready for the toppings. Brush a thin layer of olive oil around the edges of the pizza then evenly sprinkle the asiago or romano cheese on the dough. Place the asparagus and pea mixture on the pizza, laying the asparagus out flat so it looks nice and neat. Top with a few dollops of ricotta cheese (as little or as much as you'd like).

Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes of cooking spread another thin layer of olive oil on the edges of the dough and finish baking. Remove from the oven, slice and serve. 

Vegan Option
Spread 2-3 tbs of arugula pesto onto the pizza dough. Top with the pea and asparagus mixture and bake for 15-20 minutes. 

*The asaparagus makes this a little tricky to cut so make sure your pizza cutter is sharp or use a rocking pizza knife.