Grocery Bag - Night 4: Spring Vegetable Pizza

The final night of the Grocery Bag Series was Spring Vegetable Pizza. Yum!! What could be better than homemade pizza covered in great spring veggies. It's the best of both worlds: a crunchy gooey cheesy crust topped with sweet nutritious vegetables. Delish!

I'm going to get right into the recipe on this. Tomorrow, I'll show you a round-two pizza that I made with the extra pizza dough.


Recipe:
1 jar (12 ounces) marinated artichoke hearts, drained well, reserving marinade, hearts quartered if whole
1 large bunch asparagus (1 pound), trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces, and halved lengthwise if thick
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 pound pizza dough, thawed if frozen and divided in half (I saved 2nd half for a second night of pie)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
7 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (3 cups)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 500 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, combine artichoke hearts, asparagus, and tomatoes. On a large piece of parchment paper, brush 1 dough half with artichoke-heart marinade and roll out to a 14-inch-long oval.
2) Transfer dough on parchment to a rimmed baking sheet and top with half the vegetables, leaving a 1-inch border. Brush border with marinade and season pizza with salt and pepper. Repeat to make second pizza - if making two.
3) Bake pizzas 10 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Sprinkle pizzas with cheese and bake until crust is deep golden and cheese is melted, 3 to 5 minutes.