Chestnut Mushroom and Asparagus Pizza

Asparagus season is just around the corner in England and I am really looking forward to it.  I simply couldn't help myself when I saw the first tiny bunches in the market - I had to buy two. They are so lovely and sweet I had to used them on this Friday's pizza with some cherry tomatoes drizzled with a garlic cashew sauce.

For the dough chose a recipe of your liking or use my basic pizza crust which you can find here.

Pizza Toppings

• 1 small bunch of green baby asparagus
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes
• a few chestnut mushrooms

While the dough is rising you can prepare the toppings. For that you need to cut the tomatoes in half and the mushrooms into slices. For the asparagus there are two ways to go. Either you cook it for 1 minute in salted water which is called blanching, or you steam them.

In an ideal world we all would have a steamer or at least a pot with a steaming insert. But you can create your own simply using cookie cutters, a plate that snugly fits into your largest pot or pan and a matching lid. As you can see on the picture above I use three cutters to stabilize the plate, pour water into the pan so it is just below the edge of the cookie cutters and lay a plate on top. Now you can place what ever you want to steam onto the plate and cover it with a lid. And there you go. You have your own steamer.

Steam the asparagus for about 5-10 minutes. In case you wonder why you should cook or steam it, the answer is simple. If you don't then the asparagus will dry out in the oven and become rather unpleasant.

When the dough has risen, roll it out and spread an even layer of pizza sauce on it. You can use or own or try this very easy basic pizza sauce sauce that is done in seconds.

Arrange the asparagus, tomatoes and mushrooms on the pizza and bake it at maximum heat for 10-15 minutes.

While it is baking you got plenty of time to whip up this very delicious and creamy cashew garlic sauce. If it is too sweet for your liking add more salt but I love this one as it is on pizza, flat breads and with anything spicy.

Ingredients for the garlic sauce : metric ( imperial )

• 75g  (½ cup) cashews
• 4 tablespoon water
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
• ¼ teaspoon salt

All you need to do is place the ingredients into a blender or food processor and whisk at max for a few seconds. The sauce keeps in the fridge for about 2-3 days if stored in an airtight jar.

When the pizza is done drizzle the sauce over it and enjoy your very own, homemade asparagus pizza.