We are major pizza lovers in this house, and you better believe that we are all about make pizza from scratch as well! This particular pizza is a nice change from the red sauce for a vibrant veggie focused dish! This recipe for Goat Cheese Pesto and Asparagus Pizza will bring a fresh, vibrant spin to your homemade pizza night!
What's on this pizza?
Basil Pesto. First we start with a classic basil pesto as the sauce for this pizza. Homemade pesto takes no time to make and is so versatile to use in a variety of dishes in addition to this pasta. So we like to make it and keep a jar in our fridge for pizza, pasta, toast, sandwiches, and more!
Three Goat Cheeses. We used three different goat cheeses on this pizza to give it several levels of flavor. The first is a hard aged goat cheese - any will do. Then we used a younger semi-soft goat cheese and fresh goat cheese. These three cheeses have different flavor profiles and really add something special to the pizza.
Calabrian Chili Peppers. We have a jar of these in our house at all times to add a bit of spice to our favorite pasta dishes, and it is fabulous on pizza. We generally buy THIS one, but any brand you can get your hands on will work for this pizza.
Asparagus Tips. Since we wanted to focus on the greens on this pizza, we added blanched asparagus tips on top as well. The asparagus tips give the pizza an additional texture component and are perfect with the pesto and goat cheeses.
Finishing Touches
Once the pizza comes out of the oven, we add high-quality extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and mixed microgreens as the final touches! We know you will love this combo of flavors on this pizza!
Pizza Cooking Times
The cooking time on your pizza will greatly depend on how hot your oven gets and if you have a pizza stone or not. We highly encourage using a pizza stone (we have THIS one) to get that crust nice and crisp. But if not, heating your pizza pan/baking sheet in the oven for 5 minutes before placing your pizza in the oven will help get a crispier crust.
Our oven gets up to 550°F so we preheat it with the pizza stone inside for at least 30 minutes before we plan to make our pizza. Our pizzas cook within 3 minutes at this heat generally. If your oven only reaches 450°F or 500°F, your pizza may take a bit longer.
Watch your pizza as it cooks and once the crust has a nice golden brown color and the center is bubbling, your pizza should be ready.
Enjoy!
We hope you enjoy this recipe for Goat Cheese Pesto and Asparagus Pizza! If you give it a try, leave us a comment below or tag us on Instagram @cooking_with_wine!
Looking for more recipes like this? Check these out:
- Truffle Mushroom White Pizza
- Summer Pasta (Pasta D’Estate)
- Roasted Red Pepper Pesto and Mozzarella Babka
- Cherry Tomato Garlic Basil Risotto
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Goat Cheese Pesto and Asparagus Pizza
Course: Dinner, LunchCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy4
personal pizzas1
hour5
minutes1
hour5
minutesReady to make this recipe? Click HERE to have the ingredients delivered straight to your door!
Ingredients
- 1-hour Pizza Dough (makes about 4-5 personal pizzas)
1 cup 1 (237ml) warm water
1 teaspoon 1 honey
2 ¼ teaspoon 2 ¼ active dry yeast
½ cup ½ (65g) olive oil
3 cups 3 (408g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon ¼ salt
1 tablespoon 1 Italian herbs, dry
- For the Sauce
⅓ cup ⅓ pine nuts
3 cloves 3 garlic - halved
4 cups 4 fresh basil leaves
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
1.5 teaspoon 1.5 kosher salt
2 teaspoon 2 lemon juice
- For the Toppings
12 12 asparagus tips (small, thin asparagus)
¼ cup fresh goat cheese
¼ cup semi-soft goat cheese
¼ cup aged, hard goat cheese
2 tablespoon 2 crushed Calabrian chili peppers (Italian red pepper paste/sauce)
¼ cup mixed microgreens
1 teaspoon 1 extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon 1 aged balsamic vinegar
Directions
- 1-hr Pizza Dough (makes 4-5 personal pizza crusts)
- To make the 1-hr dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook, add the honey and warm water and mix. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit for 5-10 minutes until it begins to bloom and appear foamy.
- Next, add the oil, flour, salt and herbs and begin mixing on medium. Mix until the contents are completely incorporated and the dough forms a smooth ball around the hook (alternatively, mix by hand and knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth).
- Form the dough into a fairly tight ball and drizzle a small amount of olive oil into a large bowl. Add the dough ball to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Place the bowl in a warm place, such as an oven with the light on, until the dough has doubled in size (this will take about 1 hour).
- Once doubled, punch the dough down and divide into individual balls for each crust. Wrap each with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until ready to use. When ready, press your dough into a round crust to your preference of thickness.
- Make the Pesto Sauce
- First, toast the pine nuts in the oven for 5-8 minutes at 350°F on a sheet pan or until they just start to turn brown. Alternatively, you can do it in a pan on the stove for a few minutes until the pine nuts start to turn brown and become fragrant. Put the pine nuts into the blender.
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil and put your halved garlic cloves in for 2 minutes. Remove the garlic and put into the blender with the pine nuts. Add the basil leaves and olive oil and blend until smooth. Add the cheese, salt, and lemon juice and continue to blend. You should have a thick, smooth pesto at this point.
- Prepare the Toppings
- For the asparagus, bring a small pot of water to a boil and add some kosher salt (about 1 tablespoon for a quart of water). Once the water is boiling, add the asparagus tips for 1.5 minutes. Remove the asparagus to ice water and shock to stop the cooking process. The asparagus should still be crisp and not soft. Drain the asparagus and dry on paper towels and set aside.
- Break up the fresh goat cheese and grate or peel the harder goat cheeses and set aside.
- Bake the Pizza
- Preheat your oven to the hottest bake setting (or 550°) and if you have a pizza stone, use it. If not, prepare a pan/cookie sheet by putting it in the oven for 5 minutes before making your pizza and then sprinkling a tablespoon of flour on the pan so the pizza won’t stick.
- To each flattened pizza dough, add enough pesto for a fairly thin layer (you want to cover the crust but you don't want to saturate the dough) and build the pizza from there, adding the cheeses, asparagus, and chili paste. The microgreens, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar go on after the pizza is done.
- Once you assemble your pizza (go light on the sauce) put it in the oven for 3-7 minutes (see note). When done, you will see browning on the crust and the middle of the pizza should be bubbling.
- Remove from oven, add the microgreens, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar and cut and serve.
Notes
- The cook time on your pizza will depend on your oven temp. Our oven reaches 550°F and we use a pizza stone so our pizza cooks within 3 minutes. Watch your pizza closely as it cooks. Once your crust gets a nice golden brown color and the center is bubbling, your pizza is done.
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