Inspired by my dad’s new Italian honeybees, this honey, lemon, and ricotta pizza is sweet, tangy, and savory all at once, the perfect light and slightly sweet addition to your next pizza party.
Pizza has got to be my all time favorite food, and not just any pizza but pizza from my dad’s hand built pizza oven. I already have quite a few posts about this incredible oven (check out “Wood Fired Pizza Oven,”) but I think that out of aaaaalllll the pizzas my dad has made over the years, this honey, lemon, and ricotta pizza ranks pretty high on my list of favorites. In fact, it may even be number one. This pizza may not have the most conventional of toppings. There’s certainly no one I know of who would think of honey and whole sliced lemons as the perfect pizza topping, except of course for my crazy dad and his girlfriend Nicole. But the combination works surprisingly well – a little sweet, a little tang, a little savory – especially when topped with nutty toasted pine nuts.
I thought this honey-centric recipe would be the perfect time to introduce the world to my dad and Nicole’s new roommates at the upstate house: a hive of Italian honeybees that live on the roof just outside my dad’s bedroom. I’ve been keeping tabs with how the surprisingly docile and sweet little bees have been acclimating to their new home – they seem to be settling right in.
Honeybees!
On a weekend trip upstate a few weeks ago, me and my brothers girlfriend Julie got to head up to the roof with Nicole to feed the bees a simple concoction of sugar water. We were also checking to make sure the queen bee had been released and was ready to start making babies. We all suited up in the full on bee keepers outfits, and with a small “bee first aid kit” (that thankfully didn’t need to be used) in tow, we were able to truly get up close and personal with the bees. And I was able to capture some pretty awesome photos that I can’t wait to share today.
Nicole lights a small fire in the smoker to calm the bees down so we can inspect them; a bee “first aid kit” sits close by, complete with metro card to push the stinger out of skin in case of a sting.
The bees calm down as they are “smoked.”
The lid to the beehive on the left; on the right, my brother’s girlfriend Julie all suited up in a beekeeping outfit.
Feeding the bees the sugar water mixture.
While I loved being introduced to these new surprisingly cute new little roommates, the true star of that weekend we spent upstate really was this honey, lemon, and ricotta pizza. And the true star of the pizza was undoubtably the honey. The new bees aren’t quite ready to start producing honey, so this particular honey we used was from a hive kept in Nicole’s yard in Brooklyn last year. Honey is one of my favorite ingredients to play with to blur the line between sweet and savory. It works especially well in this honey, lemon, and ricotta pizza, because while it lends it’s floral and tangy notes to the pizza, it doesn’t quite overpower the pizza with sweetness. The sour lemon balances that little bit of sweetness nicely, and then the ricotta cheese and toasted pine nuts take it completely out of the realm of sweet or desert pizzas and back into the savory world.
Toasted pine nuts; Nicole drizzles honey on the pizza half way through cooking.
Nicole scoops extra honey on to a bit of pizza crust.
This pizza is undoubtably one of our new favorites, but I think the best time to make it is at the end of your pizza making party or endeavor. After stuffing yourself full of delicious pizza, this honey, lemon, and ricotta pizza is the perfect way to end the meal. It is fresh and delicate, the perfect palate cleanser of sorts. But above all, even if you are incredibly stuffed at the end of the meal, you won’t be able to pass up this unique and delicious pie – you can definitely eat just one more piece.
- ½ lb pizza dough, home made or pre-prepared (Trader Joe's make a good one)
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon honey
- salt and lots of fresh black pepper
- Preheat the oven to as hot as it will go - usually around 550. If you are using a pizza stone, which is preferable, preheat this as well. If you don't have a pizza stone you can use a baking sheet, also preheated.
- On a well floured surface, stretch and roll your your pizza dough to ¼ inch thick disc around 12 inches in diameter.
- Thinly slice your lemon to about ⅛ of an inch thick, using either a mandolin or very carefully with a knife.
- In a small cast iron skillet or pan over medium heat, toast your pine nuts until they are nicely browned, 4-5 minutes.
- Assemble your pizza: Start with a drizzle of olive oil over the dough. Spread ricotta cheese evenly over the dough, and season with salt and generous black pepper. Layer thin slices of lemon over the ricotta cheese. Do not add the honey yet as to not burn the sugars while cooking.
- Using a pizza peel or the back of a cookie sheet, transfer your assembled pizza to the preheated baking surface. Bake for 5 minutes, then check and spin the pizza. Drizzle the honey on top. Cook for another 5-10 minutes or longer if necessary, depending on the temperature of the oven, until the crust is browned and cheese is bubbly.
- Top with toasted pine nuts immediately and serve.
Beautiful in every way. And yumm.
Kate, you do beautiful work!