There’s a restaurant near my house in St. Louis called Louie and it’s probably my favorite upscale restaurant in town. Every time we go, we get the broccolini pizza as an appetizer to split because it’s so good, we can’t miss the opportunity to eat it (reservations are hard to come by). When perusing the aisles of Trader Joe’s the other day I decided that an easy dinner would be to get their prepared pizza dough and recreate Louie’s masterpiece. Turns out, it was indeed super easy to make and also insanely delicious.
If you’re not from St. Louis, or not already a fan of my hometown, I’m here to tell you you, the STL food scene is highly underrated. As a total foodie and culinary school grad who lived in NYC for 10 years, I feel like I have the experience to say that. If you’re planning a trip to St. Louis, get a reservation at Louie a month in advance, and go to Sasha’s wine bar for a drink before hand, it’s right next door. If you don’t get dessert at Louie, Clementine’s ice cream is just down the block and it’s fab. Bordering Forest Park, Washington University and the beautiful Hillcrest neighborhood, Louie is in a great location and there’s a lot of walking to be done if you’re looking to work up an appetite.
Anyway, whether or not you have access to Louie, you should be trying this pizza out. All ingredients easily available at Trader Joe’s too.
Broccolini Pizza with Lemon-Ricotta
serves 2-3 (two medium-large pizzas)
Ingredients
olive oil
sea salt, fine grain
1 lb whole milk ricotta
zest from 2 large lemons, divided
juice from 1 large lemon (1/4 cup)
3 green onions or scallions, green parts only, sliced, divided
black pepper
chili crisp oil, to taste
8 oz fresh mozzarella, shredded or cut into small pieces
12 oz broccolini
1 lb prepared pizza dough, divided into 2 balls (enough for 2 medium-large pizzas)
all purpose flour, for dusting surfaces
To Make
Take the pizza dough out of the fridge if necessary. Allow to sit at room temp for 30 minutes. Dust with flour if not sealed.
Preheat oven to the highest temp it will go, 450 to 500 degrees (F).
In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta, zest and juice from one large lemon, 2 sliced green onions (green parts), 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste) and about 1 tablespoon chili oil (or to taste).
Chop broccolini into 1/2″ pieces, leaving as much of the tops/florets whole as possible. Toss with 2 teaspoons olive oil and season with salt, about 1/4 teaspoon.
Stretch dough balls to fit a pizza peel. When stretching use a floured surface and flour the top of the dough as needed to avoid sticking. Dust the pizza peel with flour so that dough can move around easily. Place one of the doughs on the peel for topping. Alternatively, use oiled pizza pans and no peel.
To make each pizza, spread on 1/2 of the ricotta mixture, getting it almost all the way to the edge, leaving a small crust ring. Sprinkle ricotta with 1/2 of the broccolini. Top evenly with half of the mozzarella, and half of the reserved lemon zest and green onions. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until crust and bottom of the crust is light brown. Repeat with second dough.
Finish pizzas with chili crisp oil post-oven, to taste.
Radiate Food Vibes 