Another one of my absolute favourites of my ‘new-school’ pizzas. This one needs to be made during the asparagus season. It just tastes better with local asparagus, instead of an asparagus from Peru.
‘Nduja is a soft, spicy salami from Calabria. It goes perfectly with milky mozzarella, mascarpone and fresh asparagus.
Chop the garlic and crush it with a little salt. Stir the garlic with the mascarpone. Add thyme and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and set aside.
Break off the asparagus where they break naturally. Peel the stalks and set them aside.
Roll out your pizzas. Rub mascarpone on them. Top with 4-5 asparagus per pizza and small bits of ‘nduja and mozzarella. Drizzle a little olive oil and twist black pepper over each pizza.
Bake them until they’re golden and crispy. Grate a little Parmesan over them, drizzle with olive oil and serve.
Pizza dough
Put all the ingredients in a mixer. Stir the dough for 12-15 minutes until it’s smooth and supple. Let it rise to double its size. Divide it into six pieces and shape it into buns. Let it rise again to twice its size.
A little tip: If you’re not going to use the dough right away, you can leave the pizza buns to rise in the fridge. That will just make it better. It creates a natural fermentation, which makes it easier to digest the pizza.
When you’re rolling out the dough, it’s much better to use your hands than a rolling pin. A rolling pin squeezes all the air bubbles out of the dough, which produces a dense and heavy pizza base.
Instead, press the edge of the pizza lightly with your hands and slowly work toward the centre. Repeat the process until you have a thin bottom and the right size for a pizza.
