Wild Garlic, Potato & Lemon Ricotta Pizza (v)
This pizza recipe is an adaptation of the classic Italian pizza Bianca, which is a firm favourite in our house. The Bianca also known as ‘white pizza’ does not include a tomato based sauce. Traditionally it’s cooked with potato, pancetta, parmesan and served with arugula leaves. In this vegetarian version, I’ve used local seasonal foraged wild garlic leaves, made into a pesto and lightened with ricotta cheese for the pizza based sauce. This pesto gives the pizza a fresh clean, herby citrus taste with an added layer of flavour from the crisp potato and cheese topping.
The homemade pizza dough is light and airy. Cooked at a high temperature, it gives that crispy woodfired taste to the finished pizza. The pizza dough can be made in advance, as can the pesto. Whilst the base is coated in wild garlic pesto, (the wild garlic is now in abundance) this can be substituted with fresh basil leaves if you can’t find wild garlic locally. The pesto is a real treat and worth making.
The additional pizza dough can be frozen for another day to whip out and make pizzas when the craving takes you.
The wild garlic pesto recipe can be refrigerated in a jar and it’ll last a few weeks. It can be used in risottos and pasta dishes, or as a bruschetta topping on sourdough for a lunchtime treat. It’s also lovely swirled into soups and scrambled eggs.
I hope you’ll enjoy making this pizza. Get the family involved in this simple quick and easy recipe. Of course you can add whatever toppings you fancy or any fridge drawer leftovers that need using up.
Happy cooking!
N x
Wild Garlic Pesto
Ingredients
250g wild garlic leaves or fresh basil leaves, rinsed in cold water. (If you don’t have many garlic leaves you can use a mix of both)
1 garlic clove, minced (optional)
75g pine nuts or natural unsalted sunflower seeds
75g vegetarian parmesan or hard vegan cheese
1/2 lemon juice and zest, add more to taste
salt & pepper to taste
200ml olive oil or rapeseed oil
Method
In a small blender or food processor add the wild garlic and or basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts or sunflower seeds, lemon juice and zest, and the cheese. Blitz for a minute to combine, creating a chunky paste.
With the blender running, slowly drip the oil little by little into the mixture until you get a smother paste, pesto-like in consistency.
Don’t add all of the oil at this stage. Just keep tasting as you go. Add salt and pepper to taste, and more lemon juice, oil or cheese to perfect the consistency and taste.
Pop into a airtight sealed jar, cover with the remaining oil and refrigerate until required.
Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients
Yield: 6-8 pizza bases (can freeze for up to one month)
800g strong bread flour or1kg if not using the semolina flour
200g fine semolina flour
700ml lukewarm water
14g dried yeast
1 tsp fine salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
4/6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method
Sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. In a jug add 700ml of lukewarm water, sugar, 3 tablespoons of oil and the dried yeast.
Leave the liquid to dissolve for five minutes.
Once dissolved and bubbling slightly, make a well in the flour and pour over the mixture. Using your hands, combine the dried ingredients into the wet mixture until all of the flour is combined.
Tip out onto a very lightly floured surface and knead for 20 minutes. In a clean bowl add a tablespoon of oil and pop the dough back into the bowl. Add a light dust of flour to the top.
Wrap using cling, a beeswax wrap or a tea towel and let it prove for up to two hours in a warm place. The dough should double in size.
Tip the doubled sized dough out onto a very lightly floured work surface, knocking back the air. Form into a manageable dough ball and cut into 6/8 equal portions depending on how thin you want your pizza crusts to be.
Pop two dough balls onto a lightly fine polenta or semolina dusted baking tray, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for up to one hour.
Pop the remaining dough ball portions into individual food bags, date and freeze.
Pizza Recipe Topping
Ingredients
Yield: Enough for two pizzas
3 tbsp Ricotta cheese
2x 225g vegetarian mozzarella, drained (omit if catering for a vegan) or use a vegan alternative cheese
Squeeze of lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp wild garlic pesto
3 medium sized red skin potatoes or any waxy potato, washed and thinly sliced about 1/2cm thick.
2 medium shallots, peeled and sliced into rings
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Good grind of black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
Method
Fry the slices of potato in a tablespoon of olive or rapeseed oil until slightly browned and softened.
Add a sprinkle of sea salt and grind of black pepper.
Remove the potato slices, leave to cool, while you flash fry the shallots until slightly brown in colour. Leave to cool.
Add the ricotta, wild garlic pesto and lemon juice to a mixing bowl and combine. Chill until ready to use.
Preheat the oven 240C fan or Gas Mark 9, or to the hottest temperature your oven will go .You want your oven to be very hot. You can leave a pizza stone in to heat up if using one.
After a further hour the dough balls will have doubled in size again. Roll them out into a circular shape and pop each one onto a lightly polenta/or semolina coated pizza stone or baking tray.
Spread the pizza dough bases with the pesto sauce, add a layer of potatoes and shallots, then the mozzarella cheese. Finely grate lemon zest all over the pizza top.
Turn the oven down to 220C fan or Gas Mark 7 and slide the pizzas in and cook for 10-12 minutes until crisp and golden. Add a few teaspoons of the wild garlic pesto on top and another flourish of lemon zest. (Optional)
Best eaten hot with a nice cold beer!
Happy cooking
Nikki
P.S. Delicious cold for breakfast the following day, if any pizza is left!
