Snap Pea and Radicchio-Basil Pizza

I love making pizza at home. The topping options are vast and limitless, and my creations are often more interesting than the standard choices available at most pizza parlors. Pizza-making at home is also a great way to take advantage of seasonal ingredients: Currently, my crisper is full of sugar snap peas, spring onions, and plush bunches of basil, and so all three made their way onto this spring version.

Also, pizza parties. They’re a thing. You can prepare all these toppings ahead of time (as well as many others, whatever you can think of), so that guests can assemble their own. Each pizza only spends a few minutes in the oven. If you prefer to be outside, cook your pizzas on the grill.

Some general advice: fight the urge to overload each pizza with toppings. Fight it! Trust me, I learned the hard way, and I still have to remind myself every time. Too many toppings, and the dough will become laden and impossible to slide onto the pizza stone. Too many toppings, and the dough will be a soggy, unruly mess. Remember, you want the dough to crisp up on the bottom!

As ever, I encourage you to use the best dairy products you can get your hands on. I bought the mozzarella from my Saturday farmers market, from a farm called Central Valley Farm in Ashbury, NJ, that I am sort of obsessed with recently. Check out the color below–not white, but cream yellow!

A note for the first time pizza cooker: If you’ve never made pizza at home before, this video is very helpful. Melissa Clark knows what she’s talking about.

A note about the pizza dough: By all means, you can make your own dough if you like. I am very lazy though, so I buy mine. There are several options for buying pizza dough: check the freezer section of your grocery store, for starters. I often buy balls of dough from my local pizza shop, but lately, I’m crazy for the pizza dough I buy (frozen, in “personal size”) from Bklyn Larder.

A note on quantity: This recipe makes enough for 2-4 people. The Frenchman and I polished off 1.5 of these together, and then we very full, probably too full. Feel free to amend the recipe, if you will be feeding more people.

Makes 2 individual pizzas

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups sugar snap peas
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 4 spring onions
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1/8-1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 6 ounces mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar (white wine vinegar works, too)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • sea salt, black pepper
  • 1 small head radicchio
  • 2 packed cups fresh basil
  • 2 small balls of pizza dough
  • 2 eggs
  • 1-2 tablespoons lemon zest

Procedure:

1. Heat the oven to 500F. If you have a pizza stone, move it to the oven 1 hour before pizza-making. If you’ll be using a baking sheet, move it to the oven 30 minutes ahead.

2. Wash and dry the sugar snap peas, and cut off the ends. If the snap peas are large, cut them in half. Otherwise, keep them whole. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Saute the snap peas until they are bright green, but browned in places. (It helps if you don’t move them around too much in the pan.) Remove the snap peas to a plate.

sugar snap peas

3. Clean and thinly slice the spring onions. Add another 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan you used for the snap peas, and let it warm up. Saute the spring onions until they are translucent; remove them to a plate.

sliced spring onionssauteed spring onions

4. Mince the garlic. Add the remaining 2.5 tablespoons of the olive oil to the same pan you’ve been using all along, along with the minced garlic and the red pepper flakes. Simmer over low heat, until the garlic is fragrant, but not colored. Set the oil aside.

5. Cut the mozzarella into small-ish pieces. Grate the parmesan. Set both aside.

fresh mozzarella

6. Make the Dressing: In the base of a large mixing bowl, whisk together the Dijon mustard, both vinegars, the lemon juice, as well as a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Set the bowl aside.

7. Cut the head of radicchio in half, and then slice each half thinly, so as to shred the lettuce. Chiffonade the basil leaves.

8. Now it’s time to build the pizza. You will bake one at a time, so use half of each ingredient set per pizza. Start by brushing the dough with the garlic-red pepper oil. Then, scatter on the snap peas, the spring onions, the mozzarella, and the parmesan. It’s wise to move the pizza onto the pizza stone before you crack an egg into the center.

pizza before the oven

9. Bake the pizza just long enough for the egg white to set, about 5 minutes. While the pizza is baking, toss the radicchio and basil with the dressing.

radicchio and basil

10. When the pizza comes out of the oven, finish it with a sprinkle of sea salt, a crack of black pepper, and some lemon zest. Top with the radicchio-basil salad, and serve immediately.

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7 Comments

  1. Peggy

    This looks simply amazing. I’m not sure if it’s your photos on this blog or what but you make me want to try foods I’ve never considered. And all of your options are far better for me health wise. Thanks for a great blog. Keep up the super job!

  2. Homemade pizza is the best! Love that you added an egg too – I could totally have this for breakfast now

  3. Tom

    Central Valley Farms Fresh Mozzarella!! Love it! Thanks for using it in the recipe!

    • CristinaSciarra

      Thanks, Tom! It is great mozzarella. I think ricotta is up next!

  4. The Areys

    This solidifies it. I’m making a grilled pizza tonight. Never done it before, but I’ve been playing with the idea in my head. Based on my latest Farmer’s Market haul, I’m thinking corn, goat cheese, basil and roasted poblano with heirloom tomatoes. Mmmmm.

  5. Lindsey

    This looks not only beautiful, but delicious! I love your combination of vegetables, and toppings.

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