Wednesday, April 22: Reverse Puff Pastry Veggie Pizza

Reverse puff pastry pizza! Love this recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Ultimate Veg cookbook: roasted veggies (tomatoes, zucchini, bell pepper, red onion, dried herbs), covered with a puff pastry crust, baked until golden, then flipped over! Topped with goat cheese and a drizzle of balsamic. So crispy, flaky, and flavorful — plus, what an impressive presentation for such an easy recipe! As always, we devoured the entire thing because we have no self control :)

Note: I love the combination of veggies in the original recipe, but as Jamie says, use whatever veggies you have or that are in season! I bet asparagus or eggplant would both be great here.

Another note: You will need a cutting board or platter that is slightly larger than your baking pan for this recipe, as you’ll eventually be flipping the pastry out from the dish onto the board.

See original recipe in this video (it’s helpful to watch first!) or in his fabulous cookbook, or my adapted version below.

Make sure your frozen puff pastry has defrosted in the fridge for a few hours. Keep in fridge until ready to use. (The recipe calls for an 11 ounce sheet of all-butter puff pastry, but I used a 14 ounce sheet from Dufour — it worked fine!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and quarter 1 red onion (you might want to halve each quarter if large) and separate into petals. Seed and roughly chop 1 bell pepper (I used orange) — the pieces shouldn’t be too small. Slice 1 zucchini into coins, about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Slice about 1 pint (8-10 ounces) grape or cherry tomatoes in half. Add all veggies to a baking dish (mine was 9 x 13, though Jamie’s recipe calls for a 10 x 14 inch pan) and mix with a few TB of olive oil, big pinch of kosher or sea salt, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and a few tsp Italian seasoning (the recipe calls for a few springs fresh oregano, but I didn’t have any — other dried herbs like basil, thyme, or oregano would work well, maybe 1 tsp each or to taste). Roast for 50 minutes, tossing halfway.

Remove pan from oven and, depending on the instructions on your puff pastry, increase oven temperature to 375 or 400. Give veggies a stir then push in towards center slightly. Quickly and carefully rub the sides and corner of pan with a bit of olive oil, then cover the veggies with the pastry sheet, tucking in the edges along the sides of the pan. Place back in oven for 30-45 minutes, until the crust is puffed up, golden brown, dry, and firm to touch (you do not want to under-bake the pastry — I erred on the side of caution and baked for about 45 minutes, checking every 5 minutes).

IMPORTANT: Gently run a knife or spatula around the edge of pastry to loosen from the pan (this will greatly help it come out of the pan when you flip it — I forgot to do this once and regretted it!). Place a large cutting board or platter that covers and extends over the edges of the pan on top, and (using oven mitts!) carefully flip over, giving a slight tap on the table, so that the pastry and all the veggies flip out onto the board, revealing a beautiful pizza tart!

Sprinkle your cheese of choice over the veggies (Jamie calls for torn fresh mozzarella, which would be delicious, but we prefer crumbled goat cheese) and drizzle with aged balsamic vinegar to taste. Slice into squares and enjoy! You will likely need a fork and knife for this :)