Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Easy Peasy Veggie Pizza




I wanted to make a delicious spring surprise that didn't take a whole lot of effort. So I used a puff pastry sheet that was in my freezer, and let it sit for about 40 minutes. I wrapped 15 cloves of garlic in aluminum foil, poured on a little olive oil, and put it in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes while the puff pastry was sitting.

I then chopped up all sorts of tasty treats. I used avocado (1 whole ripe), 3 sweet red peppers, 3 sweet yellow peppers, about 1 cup chopped artichoke hearts, 1 cup spinach thin sliced, and 1/4 of yellow onion, thinly sliced.

Once I took the garlic out of the oven, I spread 1/4 cup of cilantro-almond pesto (recipe to follow) on the puff pastry. I sprinkled the garlic cloves on top of the pesto, although in hindsight I should have smashed them first. Then I piled on all the toppings, sprinkling them all over to cover the pizza. The final touch was about 1/4 cup of feta cheese and fresh ground pepper.

Obviously you can mix and match any of your favorite pizza toppings, but I just used whatever was in my fridge.

I baked the puff pizza at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, but it could probably have stayed in 5 minutes longer. Didn't really matter for flavor, but the puff pastry was a little soft in the middle.

Overall, this is a great, light delicious pizza. Its more like a veggie tostada than anything else. And Chris loved it so much, he even commented on it the next morning when he woke up!

Oh, cilantro-almond pesto recipe:
1/2 clove garlic
1/4 cup almonds
2 cups cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil

Put it into a food processor, and finely chop (it helps to put the garlic in first by itself). Season with salt and pepper to taste. This can be frozen, and its great for whenever you have leftover cilantro. You can also do it as Parsley-Walnut-Parmesan Cheese, same measurements with everything, add 1/2 cup cheese to chop, which is awesome, because I always have WAY too much parsley when I buy it for recipes.