ASPARAGUS & ARTICHOKE PIZZA

On the heels of my bran muffin success I give you my first entree: Asparagus & Artichoke Pizza.  And it's my very own creation!  Woot woot! But I digress. Cross these puppies off!

INGREDIENTS:
Firenza beer bread mix
12 oz sparkling water
2 tbsp cornmeal
2 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic
8 sticks string cheese
8 oz frozen steam-in-the-bag asparagus
1 can artichoke hearts (in water)
Fresh ground pepper

Casualties of war (May they rest in peace.):
4 (more) tbsp butter
2 (more) cloves garlic
I tried to fry the garlic, but I either overcooked it or it just wasn't a good idea to fry it in the first place.  It wasn't as fragrant as it started off so I chose to start over and go with raw garlic instead.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Spray pizza stone with cooking spray (Is this pizza stone sacrilege?  I don't know, but I did it anyway.) and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.
3. Combine beer bread mix and sparkling water.  Knead a couple times until a dough forms.
4. Plop dough onto middle of stone and pull outward to form a crust.  (btw, this isn't your normal high-flying, twirly-whirly roll-into-a-ball type pizza dough.  It's super sticky, but it makes an amazing crust.)
5. Bake crust alone for 20 minutes.



Gross, but worth it.

While crust is baking...
6. Steam asparagus in the microwave for 8 minutes and cut up into 1-inch pieces.
7. Melt butter.
8. Mince or press garlic and combine with melted butter.
9. Chop artichoke hearts.
10. Grate cheese.

Side note on the perils of grating sticks of string cheese: Don't let them get to room temperature.  As they lose temperature, they get all wormy and don't want to cooperate.  And for goodness sakes, watch your fingers!  Mine almost joined the cheese.  Of course, when I told my sister this, her reply: "Pssh; I coulda told you that."  So maybe you already know this, but I though I'd mention it just in case you don't have wisdom of a sage packed into a 22-year-old's body.  But back to the show:

1. *Once the crust makes it's escape from the oven, brush on butter and garlic mixture, evenly distributing the garlic.
2. Sprinkle with half the cheese.
3. Throw on the asparagus.
4. Add the rest of the cheese and then the chopped artichoke hearts on top.
5. Bake 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.
6. Finish off with fresh ground black pepper. And if you don't already own a pepper mill, get one.  It will change your life.

But...but...where's the sauce?!?!  Strangely, not necessary.  The garlic and butter do the job just fine and let the flavor of the crust come through.  If any of you are interested in this particular mix, I can only find it at Ross, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx of all places and it's not available all the time.  If you get the chance, though, I'd recommend it as it has kind of a sweeter flavor than most crusts and lends itself well to this particular concoction.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I've made something similar to this before but without artichokes and with feta, parmesan, and potatoes and although that was also good, both my sister and I agree that this pared down version was actually better.
Official Grade: A
Official Sister Grade: A




*Please 'scuse the numbering.  I'm new to Blogger and I'm too tired to make it work right now.