Poblano, Crimini, Asparagus Pizza
My kids like helping in the kitchen, especially when it is a build-your-own pizza night. Pizza is it's own huge chunk of the food pyramid in the mind of my 6 year old; she would eat it every meal if we didn't give a darn. So, we always buy their desired ingredients, but this post is about MY pizza, not theirs! So, you guessed it, open the fridge and what do I see? I see a poblano pepper staring back at me (if you have kids and read Eric Carle's books - you get this.)
Anyhow, this is what was formed and it was not a disappointment at all.
- 1 bag/tube of raw pizza dough (or make your own)
- 1/4 poblano pepper, diced
- 2 crimini mushrooms, sliced 1/4 inch thick or so
- 3 asparagus spears, cut in thirds
- 1/2 cup pizza sauce (sometimes I just use marinara because it's what I have)
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup ricotta
- a few pepperoni confiscated from the children's pizzas (optional)
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out dough into your desired shape and place on baking sheet (*use good stoneware whenever you can). Spread out your sauce, but go lightly so you don't have a soggy pizza when all is said and done. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese around your sauced areas, but remember, the cheese is not the star of this show.
Distribute your asparagus, mushrooms, and poblano peppers around the pizza (adding first a few of the children's confiscated pepperoni's). Top with a few small dollops of ricotta. I cracked a little salt across this to balance out the sweetness of the sauce and ricotta, but again, your preference.
Bake for 8-12 minutes. In this case, I served it with a simple salad of arugula tossed in a bit of olive oil and lemon juice and avocado on the side (my favorite).
This served 2 adults and 1 child who always wants to try everything.
*Stoneware is non-reactive and doesn't leach metals into your food when cooking. It provides even cooking and produces great color on baked goods. Since it is heated to 2,200 degrees during production, you can't ruin it with too high of heat. And I use it for just about anything, not just pizza.
