Summer Garden Pizza
I stumbled across this recipe by using up a bunch of veggies in my fridge and a roll of pastry from the freezer. It’s now a summer staple in our home and fills me full of joy every time I sit down to get stuck in, I hope it fills you with joy too! I’ve created 4 different types using seasonal vegetables, but go with your style and use whatever you have in the fridge.
Serves: 2 / Ready in: 25 mins / Difficulty: 2/5 / Storing: Best eaten fresh
Ingredients
1 roll of rectangle pre-made pastry, whichever you prefer (shortcrust, puff or pizza base)
50g or more of cheddar cheese
Olive or avocado oil
1 courgette
1 onion
1 Aubergine
1 Green pepper
2 Burrata
2x vines of cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp red wine vinegar or balsamic
A handful of fresh herbs or use 2tbsp of dried herbs (dill, basil, parsley, cress, oregano)
A small handful of Microgreens, optional
Balsamic glaze
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Let the pastry warm up to room temperature and then roll it out over a baking tray. Lightly score the pastry 2 cm away from the edge, this will allow the edges to puff up. While the oven heats up I start preparing the vegetables. Slice the aubergine into 1 cm rounds, lay them on a flat surface and sprinkle with salt, leave for 5 minutes so the water draws out. Meanwhile, slice the courgette in down the middle lengthways and then thinly slice, creating semicircles. Deseed the pepper and thinly slice it into strips. Remove the skin from the onion and thinly slice. Put two pans on medium-high heat and add a glug of olive oil to each.
In an oven-proof dish place the cherry tomatoes still on the vine, splash over some olive oil and a few splashes of red wine vinegar or balsamic. Pop in the preheated oven. You can also pop in the pastry, and cook as per pack instructions. Don’t worry if the middle rises up, the veggies will push it back down.
While the tomatoes and pastry cook, with a paper towel dab off the water from the aubergine. In one add the aubergine slices, cooking in batches. Allow the aubergine to get nice and coloured on one side before flipping over, add oil as needed. Cook them until they are soft and look slightly caramelised.
In the other pan, add the onions for a few minutes followed by the courgette and pepper. Once they have started to get soft and slightly brown, add in the dried herbs if using them. Season with salt. Allow to cook and sizzle away until the vegetables are all cooked.
Check the tomatoes and allow them to cook until the skin is ripped and there are some golden patches on the tomatoes. Once the pastry is cooked take it out and put it on the side.
If using fresh herbs, chop them up and put them to one side. Now, remove the cherry tomatoes from the vines, I use two forks one to hold the vine and one to pull off the tomato. Place the tomatoes over the pasty and give them a little press with the fork to smush out some of the juices. Then grate over the cheddar cheese. Now place over the aubergine circles, overlapping them if needed to fit them all on. Tip over the other cooked vegetables and spread out over the pizza. Sprinkle over the herbs, place the Buratta on each side of the pizza and slice them into two. Grind over some black pepper, place over the micro greens, then squeeze over some balsamic glaze. Cut the pizza into 4 with half a burrata on each slice. It’s ready to serve, enjoy!
Nutritional information, per serving
kcal: 1184
Fat: 75.7g
Saturates: 40.9g
Carbs: 97.4g
Sugars: 27.5g
Fibre: 18g
Protein: 31.9g