Puff Pastry Pizza...

I am not ashamed to say that I buy frozen pastry. It is far easier to use then making pastry from scratch and even well known chef’s recommend using it! We had some puff pastry lurking in the freezer, so this week I thought it might be fun to try and make a puff pastry pizza.

There were a few veggies that needed to be used up so I decided to make a combination of 2 toppings. One was inspired by my Mum’s lasagne recipe and included ricotta cheese, parmesan, spinach and egg. The other was a tomato based sauce which was also going to serve as a light and easy lunch the next day.

I preheated the oven and put our pizza stone in to gradually warm up. Following the packet directions I rolled out the pastry sheet and put it on the warmed pizza stone. Liking the idea of a ‘stuffed crust’ I put thin strips of mozzarella cheese about a half inch from the edge and then folded the edges over the cheese. I sealed the crust with an egg wash.

I added about 6 large Tablespoons of the tomato sauce to the ricotta mixture and then spread the combined sauces over the rolled out pastry sheet. Finishing it off with some roughly chopped pieces of mozzarella cheese I put it in the oven for approx 20 – 25 minutes.

The pizza stone really helped it cook beautifully throughout. The base was lovely and crisp and not soggy at all (I was worried about the amount of moisture in the sauces).The crust puffed up and remained light and flaky. Biting into it and having hot mozzarella cheese ooze out was a delight!

It was excellent and went very well with a glass of red wine and a small green salad. We even had leftovers for the next day which were just as tasty. This makes for a light, flaky delicious pizza!

Luna Raye’s Puff Pastry Pizza

Ingredients

For Pizza Crust / Preparation

1 sheet of ready made puff pastry

1 beaten egg for the egg wash

2 x 125g mozzarella balls

For Tomato sauce

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

Drizzle olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 small red onion

¼ cup finely chopped zucchini (courgette)

Pinch of dried chilli flakes

Pinch of dried mixed Italian herbs (Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, Marjoram)

For Ricotta Mixture

250g Ricotta

4 chestnut mushrooms finely chopped

300g baby leaf spinach

3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1 egg beaten

Directions

Preheat oven according to puff pastry directions. Make sure pizza stone is in oven so it can gradually heat up.

Begin tomato sauce by adding drizzle of olive oil to a pan and gently caramelizing the onions.

When onions are soft add the minced garlic, chilli flakes and Italian herbs.

Mix well and add the tin of tomatoes.

Simmer on medium heat for 6- 7 minutes and then add the finely chopped zucchini.

Stir around and remove from heat.

Begin the Ricotta mixture by putting the ricotta in a large glass bowl.

Add a beaten egg and mix well.

Add the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and chestnut mushrooms and stir to blend.

Roughly chop the baby spinach leaves and add to the mixture.

Set aside.

Prepare the pastry by rolling it out on a flat surface. I used a large chopping board.

Cut about ¼ of one of the mozzarella balls into thin strips and place them about half an inch from the outside edge of the pastry.

Fold the outside edge over the cheese strips to create a ‘thick stuffed crust’

Beat the other egg and brush it over the crust edge (this will help keep it in place and also give the crust a more golden colour)

At this point I needed to transfer the pizza base to the pizza stone – so I carefully slid it from the chopping board onto the stone (making sure the stone was on a heat proof surface)

Add about 6 Tbsp of the tomato sauce into the bowl with the ricotta mixture and give it a gentle stir. It doesn’t matter if the tomato sauce is still a little warm. (Put the rest in the fridge for an easy lunch the next day)

Spoon the mixture onto the pastry base and spread it out.

Roughly tear or chop the rest of the mozzarella into pieces and scatter over the top.

Season with a bit more salt and pepper.

Put in oven for approximately 20 – 25 minutes.

Assemble your simple green salad and pour some wine.

Enjoy!

I really loved this recipe and will make puff pastry pizza again! Check out this great site for more inspiring ways to use puff pastry!

Puff Pastry Pizza