Healthy Snack Time

If you are due for a treat in your life––perhaps work has been brutal or you can’t remember when you last had your friends over for a meal––or if you just want to celebrate spring by eating something really delicious, I really do think you should make this pizza. I know it’s not particularly healthy, and that it seems like gilding a carbohydrate-laden lily to put potatoes on a pizza, but you’ll just have to believe me. It’s worth it and, as I like to say, woman cannot live on lentils alone.

It could have also been the scene that made me think this wonderfully rich recipe was so outrageously good. It was a Sunday night, and already dark outside. I sank into the couch with a single slice, a scary movie, and my love by my side, and thought that Laura Ingalls Wilder was right: the simplest moments do often seem the sweetest.

If you’re going to make the crust from scratch, I love this whole wheat pizza dough. I ran out of time and used a store-bought thin crust pizza shell, and you know what? It was still crazy delicious. A tart purple cabbage salad makes a lovely foil to earthy potatoes and all that cheese.

Asparagus, Fingerling Potato and Goat Cheese Pizza
from Bon Appetit
Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as a starter

5 ounces fingerling potatoes
cornmeal (for sprinkling)
pizza dough or store-bought pizza crust
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 garlic clove, pressed
4 scallions, thinly sliced, divided
1 1/3 cups grated whole-milk mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces)
4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
8 ounces asparagus, trimmed, each spear cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 2- to 3-inch pieces
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Place potatoes in small saucepan. Add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Sprinkle with salt. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Cool. Cut potatoes into thin slices. (You could also steam your potatoes until tender in the microwave.)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Sprinkle rimless baking sheet with cornmeal. If using homemade dough, roll and stretch pizza dough to 16×11-inch oval. Transfer to baking sheet. Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil and garlic in small bowl. Brush garlic oil over dough. Sprinkle 3/4 of scallions over, then mozzarella, leaving 1/2-inch plain border. Top with potato slices and goat cheese. Toss asparagus and 1 tablespoon oil in medium bowl. Scatter asparagus over pizza. Sprinkle with Parmesan, then lightly with salt and generously with pepper.

Bake pizza until crust is browned and asparagus is tender, about 18 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Sprinkle with remaining green onions. Cut into pieces.