The title of this post pretty much sums up its tastiness. With Spring finally upon us, the produce section of the grocery store is about to get green. And, oh so delicious. The earliest of Spring produce that gets me excited is asparagus and this Chorizo, Asparagus, and Goat’s Cheese Pizza is a great way to highlight its woodsy flavours. Combined with creamy goat’s cheese and spicy chorizo, asparagus is unstoppable in the flavour department.
Chorizo, asparagus and goat’s cheese make a perfect trio to top pizza. I love the hit of spiciness from the meat, the cooling sensation from the cheese and the pop of green from the asparagus. It is truly a one dish meal for us. I don’t make a salad or serve any additional protein on the side. This pizza hits all the notes of a great meal with flavour and sustenance.
And on that note, don’t have time to roll out the dough? Use flatbread or pita. Want gluten-free? Use a gluten-free pita or wrap. For all my vegetarians out there, skip the chorizo and finish with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Meat-free pizza heaven.
I peeled the asparagus in this recipe. This not only looks good, but allows it to cook up quickly. Any vegetable peeler will do as your tool of choice. Without snapping off the ends of the asparagus spears, hold the flat ended side and slide the vegetable peeler away from you. Don’t press too hard as the spear will snap or you’ll get thicker pieces. Thicker spears of asparagus will work better for this recipe. If you have very thin spears I’d recommend just cutting in half-length wise and skipping the peeling step. I do find that I enjoy the taste of the thicker spears more. They have great woodsy-like flavour to them when baked.
If your grocery store doesn’t carry raw pizza dough (in the fresh or frozen section), your local pizza joint will most likely sell you pizza dough. Or, as noted above, just use flatbread or pita. Both will work well here. Favourite pizza dough recipes would have to be this no-knead recipe from Martha (skip the sugar! not needed at all and kids definitely don’t need it) and this one from Epicurious, again skip the sugar. Roll both super thin if you like thin crust as per the recipe below.
- 1/2 lb or 225 gr chorizo sausage
- 1 lb approx. of store bought raw pizza dough
- 1/2 lb asparagus about 1/2 of a large bunch, peeled into long pieces (see directions above)
- 113 gr package of soft goat's cheese herb or plain
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella about 75 gr
- Salt and pepper to season
- Olive oil to lightly drizzle if desired
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Take dough out of fridge and let rest on counter for 10-20 minutes.
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Preheat oven to 450° F. If you're using a pizza stone, place in oven to preheat, or lightly dust the back of two baking sheets with cornmeal or flour and set baking sheets aside.
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Brown chorizo in a pan over medium heat, breaking up the meat with the back of a wooden spoon, until cooked, about 5-7 minutes. Set aside.
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Divide your pizza dough into 2 equal parts (eyeballing this is fine). On a floured surfaced roll out the dough into two 10" round pizzas. The dough will (and should) be quite thin. Place the dough on the pizza stone or your floured baking sheets.
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Top dough with mozzarella, asparagus, chorizo, goat's cheese, and salt and pepper. Place in oven and cook for 10-15 minutes.
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Let cool for a few minutes. Drizzle with olive oil right before serving if desired.
Enjoy! xo