By Katherine Sacks
4.5
(13)
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
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Active Time
35 minutes
Total Time
45 minutes
This fresh take on white pizza has a base of pesto and white cheeses topped with a veritable salad of all our favorite green vegetables. Peas and crispy, thin-shaved asparagus, zucchini, and leeks are topped with watercress, basil, and pecorino curls for a satisfying slice that just happens to be vegetarian.
Ingredients
4 servings
1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta
16 ounces prepared pizza dough, room temperature
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided, plus more for pan
1 medium zucchini (about 8 ounces), trimmed, thinly shaved with a vegetable peeler
2 small leeks, whites and pale-green parts cut into half moons, very thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
4 ounces asparagus, trimmed, thinly shaved with a vegetable peeler
1/2 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup shredded low-moisture mozzarella
1/4 cup store-bought or homemade pesto
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup watercress
1/4 cup torn basil
1.5 ounces Pecorino, shaved into curls with a vegetable peeler (about 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup unsalted, roasted pistachios, coarsely chopped
Preparation
Step 1
Place a rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 500°F. Drain ricotta in a paper towel-lined colander.
Step 2
Gently stretch dough to a 16x12" oval and transfer to a lightly oiled rimmed baking sheet. (If dough springs back, cover with plastic wrap and let rest 10 minutes, then stretch again, resting as needed.) Brush with 1 Tbsp. oil, then bake until dry and golden, about 5 minutes.
Step 3
Meanwhile, toss zucchini, leeks, asparagus, peas, salt, and 1 Tbsp. oil in a medium bowl. Whisk ricotta, mozzarella, pesto, garlic, and lemon zest in another medium bowl until smooth.
Step 4
Spread ricotta mixture over dough, then arrange vegetables over. Bake pizza, rotating pan halfway through, until cheese is melted, vegetables are roasted and tender, and crust is golden brown, 7–9 minutes.
Step 5
Meanwhile, toss watercress and basil with remaining 1 tsp. oil. Remove baking sheet from oven, then transfer pizza with a pizza peel or offset spatula to wire rack. Top pizza with watercress mixture, Pecorino, and pistachios. Let cool slightly, then cut into wedges and serve.
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Reviews (13)
Back to TopTriangleTerrific! I was worried about the vegetables, wondering if I should have sauteed them first. They came out perfectly!Not being a raw onion fan, I think I will saute the leeks just briefly. before putting them on the pizza. I did add 1 T olive oil to the cheese mixture to make it creamier and easier to spread.This recipe is a keeper.
Anonymous
Seattle, WA
6/16/2023
I made my own pizza dough, but this recipe I will be making more often! Delicious, fresh and easy!
Catriona
Vienna, Austria
3/6/2022
Really liked this recipe! Super easy, quick enough for a weeknight meal, and tasty! Loved that it's vegetarian too!
kunjan
Oregon
7/21/2021
My first review -- But this is too good not to comment. Fabulous!!! Next time I'll chop veggies rather than shave to make for neater eating.
egore
Nova Scotia
5/25/2021
Looks good, but your nutritional info seems to be for the whole pie, not for one of four servings.
Anonymous
Vt.
8/19/2019
This pizza is an absolute winner! It has a ton of veggies that were easy to prepare and the pesto base adds great flavor. I used my bread maker to make a tumeric and red pepper dough (tablespoon of each to the normal dough recipe) and it added a really cool color and texture. Regardless, my wife and I loved it. We will be making it again soon.
aterrance
St. Louis, MO
5/28/2019
This was delicious and full of flavor. Our grocery was out of watercress so I substituted spinach and I used fresh sugar snap peas which I shaved (pod and all) in place of frozen peas. The sugar snaps added a lovely bit of crunch to the finished pizza. Other than that, made this recipe exactly as suggessted. Definietly a new favorite!
inthevintagekitchen
Nashville
7/5/2018
This was extremely underwhelming for the amount of effort, time and price of ingredients. It took me more than 1.5hrs, with pre-prepared baked pizza base. It was bland for me.
Anonymous
London, UK
7/2/2018
Definitely a winner! Got raves from my household--and shows off spring's finest. Followed the recipe other than shaving the veggies--just sliced the squash very thinly and chopped baby (pencil thin) asparagus from the farmer's market. Used standard Trader Joe's pizza crust, pesto, shaved cheese blend. We'll be making this again!!!
Anonymous
Mountain View, CA
5/7/2018
This was INCREDIBLE. The changes I made, because I needed more servings, were to use a 12 oz container of Bellwether Farms Basket Ricotta (yum!) and two Wewalka Bistro pizza crusts. Otherwise kept everything the same, and it was plenty for the two pizzas. Maybe the most delicious pizza or vegetarian entree I've ever made.
Maddie Hj
Cape Cod, MA
9/20/2017
I have to rate this, though I would rather not because I deviated a bit too much from the recipe, but I liked my result. I made the ricotta pesto blend for the base and topped with zucchini, asparagus, and leeks, and a bit more mozz. I sauted the veggies first. Next time, I won't bother with shaving the veggies, just slice them thin. After it came out of the oven, I topped it with pea shoots. Yummy.
debnev
Redding, CT
7/8/2017
3.5 rating. I will make this again because it has so many healthy vegetables on it. Because I needed to use up some radishes, I added these with the veggies.
mrstoppr
St. Paul, MN
6/14/2017
This looked to be a strange combination of flavors when I saw it, but I went ahead and gave it a try, and everyone loved it. We did use a store-bought crust from Whole Foods, but other than that, we remained loyal to the recipe. I must say that "shaving" the asparagus was a real hassle (perhaps I need to invest in a better shaver), but other than that, it came together quickly and was delicious.
Anonymous
Iowa
6/2/2017
TagsPizzaItalianEuropeanRicottaCheeseDairyAsparagusVegetableZucchiniSquashMainDinnerVegetarianOven Bake
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