Apricots, Cherries & Microgreens
Apricots, cherries, ricotta, microgreens, nectarine-balsamic vinaigrette, toasted macadamia nuts, grated Sapore del Piave cheese
Fresh apricots are such a treat. They seem to only be around for a short period of time in the summer—and sometimes, if you're lucky and depending on where you live, in the spring—so you have to snatch them up while you can. Put them in salads, grill them, eat them with ice cream. And of course, their tart sweetness and thin rinds go beautifully on a pizza. We ran with the stone fruit theme on this one, adding fresh cherries and a nectarine vinaigrette, all of which are just making me even more excited for the summer produce to come.
For the grated cheese on top, we used a Sapore del Piave from our local Di Bruno Bros.—it's a rich, nutty cow's milk cheese similar to a Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino, so you can use something along those lines as a substitute if you can't find it easily.
Recipe
Ingredients:
1 ball of pizza dough
flour for dusting
olive oil
salt & pepper
semolina flour for pizza stone
1-2 apricots, pitted & cut into wedges
handful of cherries, pitted & halved
a few dollops of fresh ricotta
handful of your favorite microgreens
handful of macadamia nuts
hunk of Sapore del Piave cheese (or substitute, see above), grated
For the vinaigrette:
1/2 cup diced nectarines
1/4 cup diced apricots
1/4 cup basil, roughly chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
1 teaspoon maple syrup
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 550° F, or as hot as it will go. While your oven is heating up, you can make the dressing. Combine all the vinaigrette ingredients in a blender, adding a pinch each of salt & fresh cracked pepper.
Blend on high for about a minute or so, scraping the sides of the blender as necessary, until very smooth. If it's too thick to drizzle, you can add a bit of water, a little at a time, to thin it out. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Next, you can start preparing the dough using the instructions on the right. When you've baked it for a minute, take it out and brush it lightly with olive oil.
Spoon out the ricotta cheese in small dollops across the pizza, then lay your apricot slices in an even layer. Scatter the cherries and macadamia nuts, then drizzle everything with your vinaigrette and top with the grated Sapore del Piave.
Pop your pizza in the oven and bake until the crust is a nice golden brown. Then take it out, garnish with the microgreens, and enjoy!