Just before the weekend, all readers who cook ask themselves this eternal question: what are we going to eat? To inspire you, The Press suggests a recipe that will make your mouth water.
From the book Cool Beans by Joe Yonan. Ideally, this pizza is made with fresh fava beans, which are presented here in two ways, in pesto and whole.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh fava beans in their pods (can be substituted with frozen lima beans, previously thawed)
- 3/4 cup mint leaves, torn by hand or coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup roasted pistachios
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, crushed
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup ricotta (can be substituted with a vegan version)
- 1 pound frozen store-bought pizza dough, thawed at room temperature
- A little flour
- Cornmeal
- 1 small lemon, cut into slices as thin as possible
Preparation
- 1. Preheat oven to 500°F. Position a rack about 6 inches from the top element. While oven is preheating, place a baking sheet, pizza stone, or large cast-iron skillet on the rack and preheat for at least 30 minutes.
- 2. Open the pods of the beans and remove the beans. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the beans. Cook for about 30 seconds, then plunge them into a bowl of ice water. Cut a small incision in each bean and squeeze to remove the bean. This should yield about a cup of shelled beans.
- 3. Combine 1/2 cup fava beans with 1/2 cup mint, pistachios, garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon salt in a blender. Pulse until pureed, but still coarsely crumbly.
- 4. In a small bowl, whisk together the ricotta, a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil.
- 5. Dust the pizza dough and work surface with flour. Then dust a rimless baking sheet (or the back of a baking sheet) with cornmeal, which will be used to transfer the pizza to the oven.
- 6. Pat the dough into a 12-inch circle, drizzle with a little olive oil, and place on the cornmeal-lined baking sheet. Make sure the dough slides easily on the surface; if not, remove it and add more cornmeal. Sprinkle the dough with spoonfuls of pesto and ricotta, then add the lemon slices and remaining fava beans.
- 7. Slide the pizza directly onto the baking sheet, stone, or cast iron skillet in the oven and bake until it begins to puff up and brown slightly, about three minutes. Then turn the oven to broil until the toppings begin to brown and the dough is nicely puffed up and browned, and even charred in a few spots, about 2 to 5 minutes. You can also bake the pizza just until it’s done, without broiling, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- 8. Use tongs and the first baking sheet to remove the pizza from the oven and then transfer it to a large cutting board. Add the remaining mint leaves, drizzle with olive oil, slice and serve warm.
Published on lapresse.ca on May 10, 2020.