Whenever I get back from vacations I want even more vegetables to make up for all of the non-vegetables I ate on the trip and my post-DC trip is no exception. I went nuts at the farmers market and produce stand this weekend filling up on vegetables. One of the things I wanted to make was a puff pastry pizza piled with a rainbow of vegetables.
Customize your pizza
This is a bit of a choose-your-own adventure meal, as you can use any combination of vegetables and end up with a delicious result.
Try cherry tomatoes, asparagus, yellow squash, zucchini, red onion, broccoli, and carrots. Choose the veggies you like, and don't bother with the ones you don't.
You'll find this pizza probably is best eaten with a fork, thanks to the vegetables piled on top, but who cares when the pizza is this good?!
Puff Pastry Garden Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheet thawed
- 1 tbsp garlic extra virgin olive oil or regular will do
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese divided
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella or small mozzarella balls quartered
2 cups of any of the following diced vegetables
- 2 diced vegetables
- cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
- asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces
- squash or zucchini diced in to 1 inch pieces
- red onion diced small
- very small broccoli florets
- diced carrots
- and if you’re not using garlic oil 1-2 cloves minced garlic
- Dried or fresh basil to taste
- Cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- If the puff pastry isn’t thawed, set it on the counter while you chop the vegetables.
- Dice 2 cups of your desired vegetables and set aside.
- Once the puff pastry is thawed, place it on a piece of parchment paper or Silpat on a baking sheet.
- Use a pastry brush to spread the tablespoon of garlic oil over the pastry sheet.
- Evenly spread out ½ cup of the Parmesan and all of the mozzarella cheese over the oil-spread pastry.
- Mix together the vegetables and carefully spread them across the pastry, leaving a quarter to half inch bare on each outer edge.
- Sprinkle with the basil and black pepper, the evenly distribute the rest of the Parmesan on top.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the edges of the pastry are golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cut with a pizza slicer and serve immediately.
Working with puff pastry
Puff pastry can be a little intimidating to anyone who has never used it, but it doesn't have to be difficult. The key to using it is letting it thaw out enough before trying to use it. Otherwise it will crack and you'll have to do a little food surgery to fuse the dough back together, which can create a weaker end result. It will still be edible, but it might involve using a fork to eat your pizza.
Follow the package instructions to thaw the puff pastry, and use a timer so you don't lose track and risk the puff pastry getting too thawed out and soggy.
Puff pastry is great as a pizza crust because it doesn't involve making pizza crust dough, which takes hours. The most time this crust will take is thawing the dough, which you can do while the oven preheats and you chop the vegetables. I like that kind of double tasking when it comes to meal preparation!
