Recipe: Courgette Pizzette by Skye McAlpine
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Skye McAlpine’s recipe for courgette pizzette makes the perfect snack or quick-to-rustle-up dinner to enjoy at home. This is how Skye sums up this Venetian-inspired dish from her new cookbook, A Table in Venice:
‘Pizzette with a buttery puff pastry base are a ‘thing’ in Venice, and they are beyond delicious. You will find pizzette with a dough base and ones made with puff pastry on offer in most bars but I always prefer the puff pastry version. So, although this recipe is wonderfully easy to make, you needn’t think of it as a cheat’s pizza – unless, of course, you count cooking with ready-rolled puff pastry as cheating. I have topped these with grilled courgette and fresh thyme, but baby artichokes, blue cheese, black olives and anchovies are all equally scrumptious alternatives – or leave them plain like a margherita.’
Extract taken from A Table in Venice: Recipes from my Home by Skye McAlpine (Bloomsbury, £26) which was published on 28 March. Photography © Skye McAlpine
Courgette Pizzette / Pizzette di Zucchine
Heat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Heat a griddle pan. Arrange the courgette slices on it and cook over a medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, until chargrilled and blistered on both sides. Season with a little salt. Remove from the griddle and set aside.
Lay out the puff pastry on a work surface and use a pastry cutter to cut out 7-8cm rounds (roughly the size of the base of the tomato tin, if you don’t have a cutter the right size). Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, leaving plenty of space between each one. Using a sharp knife, score a circle on each pastry round to make a 1cm border – be careful not to cut right through. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden.
Remove the pizzette bases from the oven and gently push down the pastry if it has puffed up at the centre – you need to create a hollow. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of drained tomatoes into the hollow of each one. Combine the mozzarella and pecorino in a bowl, then put a generous spoonful on the tomato, so that it is almost completely hidden under a snow-white layer of cheese. Top with a couple of slices of grilled courgette and a few thyme leaves.
Return the pizzette to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden. They are best eaten straight from the oven but will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container – all you need to do is reheat them before serving.
Heat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Heat a griddle pan. Arrange the courgette slices on it and cook over a medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, until chargrilled and blistered on both sides. Season with a little salt. Remove from the griddle and set aside.
Lay out the puff pastry on a work surface and use a pastry cutter to cut out 7-8cm rounds (roughly the size of the base of the tomato tin, if you don’t have a cutter the right size). Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, leaving plenty of space between each one. Using a sharp knife, score a circle on each pastry round to make a 1cm border – be careful not to cut right through. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden.
Remove the pizzette bases from the oven and gently push down the pastry if it has puffed up at the centre – you need to create a hollow. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of drained tomatoes into the hollow of each one. Combine the mozzarella and pecorino in a bowl, then put a generous spoonful on the tomato, so that it is almost completely hidden under a snow-white layer of cheese. Top with a couple of slices of grilled courgette and a few thyme leaves.
Return the pizzette to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden. They are best eaten straight from the oven but will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container – all you need to do is reheat them before serving.
Skye McAlpine’s recipe for courgette pizzette makes the perfect snack or quick-to-rustle-up dinner to enjoy at home. This is how Skye sums up this Venetian-inspired dish from her new cookbook, A Table in Venice:
‘Pizzette with a buttery puff pastry base are a ‘thing’ in Venice, and they are beyond delicious. You will find pizzette with a dough base and ones made with puff pastry on offer in most bars but I always prefer the puff pastry version. So, although this recipe is wonderfully easy to make, you needn’t think of it as a cheat’s pizza – unless, of course, you count cooking with ready-rolled puff pastry as cheating. I have topped these with grilled courgette and fresh thyme, but baby artichokes, blue cheese, black olives and anchovies are all equally scrumptious alternatives – or leave them plain like a margherita.’
Extract taken from A Table in Venice: Recipes from my Home by Skye McAlpine (Bloomsbury, £26) which was published on 28 March. Photography © Skye McAlpine
Courgette Pizzette / Pizzette di Zucchine
Heat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Heat a griddle pan. Arrange the courgette slices on it and cook over a medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, until chargrilled and blistered on both sides. Season with a little salt. Remove from the griddle and set aside.
Lay out the puff pastry on a work surface and use a pastry cutter to cut out 7-8cm rounds (roughly the size of the base of the tomato tin, if you don’t have a cutter the right size). Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, leaving plenty of space between each one. Using a sharp knife, score a circle on each pastry round to make a 1cm border – be careful not to cut right through. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden.
Remove the pizzette bases from the oven and gently push down the pastry if it has puffed up at the centre – you need to create a hollow. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of drained tomatoes into the hollow of each one. Combine the mozzarella and pecorino in a bowl, then put a generous spoonful on the tomato, so that it is almost completely hidden under a snow-white layer of cheese. Top with a couple of slices of grilled courgette and a few thyme leaves.
Return the pizzette to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden. They are best eaten straight from the oven but will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container – all you need to do is reheat them before serving.
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