have been living with the man for almost a year now, and since I do most of the cooking, and will mostly eat anything that grows in the dirt, I have had to cultivate a short list of Vegetables To Be Eaten Alone...That is to say, vegetables that the man wont be seen with, have on his plate, and are certainly no where to be found in his (our) fridge.Not that the man is a picky eater, in actuality he'll eat nearly anything you set in front of him, but there are certain vegetables that do not pass between his lips.
Sadly I'm responsible for some of his hated vegetables even becoming his enemies in the first place...I introduced him to swiss chard (he wont even be in the same room with it) and I forced beets on him maybe to forcefully.
Asparagus is one of my all time favorites, and when I heard that it was on the list of Veggies Not To Be Named I had to change his mind. So I did what any reasonable young person would do. I made pizza...
White pizza is a weakness of mine and I had some leftover ricotta leftover from a pasta dish earlier in the week. The Portland Pie Co sells their garlic pizza dough at our local grocery store, and when I picked up a glob I knew what I could do to swing the odds in my favor.
I mixed roasted cherry tomatoes and roasted garlic with the ricotta, along with salt and pepper, as well as some crushed red pepper. I smeared this mix on the uncooked dough and topped it with a bit of crumbled bacon and then topped the whole mess with half of a bunch of asparagus, shredded thin with a veggie peeler. The heat from the oven does an amazing job of roasting the thin shreds of asparagus and the seasoned ricotta and tomato mixture make a mellow base. Salty, crunchy bacon won over the man who admitted that he would definitely try asparagus again, and ate the pizza for dinner, as well as breakfast the next day. Win.
I mixed roasted cherry tomatoes and roasted garlic with the ricotta, along with salt and pepper, as well as some crushed red pepper. I smeared this mix on the uncooked dough and topped it with a bit of crumbled bacon and then topped the whole mess with half of a bunch of asparagus, shredded thin with a veggie peeler. The heat from the oven does an amazing job of roasting the thin shreds of asparagus and the seasoned ricotta and tomato mixture make a mellow base. Salty, crunchy bacon won over the man who admitted that he would definitely try asparagus again, and ate the pizza for dinner, as well as breakfast the next day. Win.