Boulder Market Meals: Fresh local asparagus shines on this spring pizza

Market Meals is a collaboration between Boulder Reporting Lab and the Boulder County Farmers Markets, featuring weekly seasonal recipes built around ingredients from local growers, ranchers and food producers. Find it in Nibbles every Tuesday and on Boulder Reporting Lab. Sign up to get Nibbles in your inbox.

Every May and June, asparagus stalks pop up in backyard patches and along rural fence lines in Boulder County. (Here are tips for properly foraging wild, or “feral,” asparagus)

Asparagus plants are perennials, meaning they regrow each spring. Did you know that asparagus grows straight out of the ground? The stalks that we eat are technically the stems of the plant. If left unharvested, they grow into ferns with feathery leaves.

Once the stalks reach about 8 inches, farmers carefully harvest them by hand. The ones you purchase at the farmers market were likely picked just the day before.

Asparagus is one of those items that comes around each spring and is gone before you know it, with a season that typically lasts eight weeks. Take advantage of the season with creative cooking that goes beyond your typical roast or grill (although fresh asparagus is delicious any way it is cooked).

Skip the red sauce and pepperoni and make a change-of-pace pizza topped with shredded asparagus stalks.

Fresh Colorado Asparagus Pizza

Homemade pizza gets a spring makeover by topping dough with the first bounty of local asparagus. Credit: Boulder County Farmers Markets

1 pizza dough (or use the recipe below)
About ½ pound asparagus stalks
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 green onion, thinly sliced
Optional ingredients: thinly sliced fresh mushrooms; chopped fresh garlic clove; minced herbs like thyme or marjoram

If you are using store-bought pizza dough, leave the dough ball out so it reaches room temperature. King Arthur Flour offers an excellent scratch pizza crust recipe that includes a link to high-altitude tips from the CSU Extension Service.

Prepare asparagus using a vegetable peeler. Lay stalks flat on a cutting board and hold the end of the stalk while peeling horizontally. When picking out your asparagus, thicker stalks are better for sturdier peeling. Shavings do not have to be completely uniform. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Heat the oven to 500 degrees. Roll out your pizza dough, sprinkle with Parmesan and mozzarella, then top with asparagus. Bake for 10-15 minutes. The crust should be slightly browned, and the asparagus will be starting to char. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

Serving suggestion: Top with farm fresh poached eggs.

What’s fresh this week? Local farms are offering green onions, bok choy, carrots, eggs, mushrooms, spinach, greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers, honey, rhubarb, spicy mustard greens, a variety of radishes, herbs, plant starts, asparagus and more this week at the Boulder Farmers Market and the Longmont Farmers Market.