Roasted Vegetable Focaccia Pizza
Where there is absolutely no requirement to become one of those people who makes their own bread ♡
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Hello lovely people,
How’s tricks? I’ve been feeling slightly under the weather this week; not enough to be classed as ill but a little ‘less than’ and so in honour of being kind to myself, I’ve changed what I was planning to write and instead I’m sharing a really delicious and super easy recipe for your delectation. ♡
It probably hasn’t gone unnoticed that pesto is often my ingredient of choice. I love it in its traditional basil form but kale pesto (this delicious recipe in particular) is perhaps the version that I make the most and you can almost always find some hanging out in my fridge. Of course, you can buy every type of pesto in the supermarket so there really is something for everyone. As an aside, I discovered this Rose Harissa Pesto this week, which has a mild kick to it and is delicious served with everything, but especially through rice or added to pasta.
And on the theme of pesto, I’ve created a delicious pizza recipe which puts pesto at its centre. It’s also a rather handsome dish and as a bonus, I feel confident that you can throw it together in no time at all. Please, put your hands together for my Roasted Vegetable Focaccia Pizza recipe. ♡
A delicious, handsome dish that you can throw together in no time at all.
As with most pizzas, the formula for this one is -
A BASE + SOMETHING TO SPREAD ON THE BASE + TOPPINGS + MOZZARELLA.
I have used a square of focaccia from the supermarket for my base. I emphasise that I bought it, rather than lovingly baked it - really, who has the inclination for that? I then spread it with kale pesto, topped with some roasted vegetables (red onions, peppers, cherry tomatoes, courgettes) and added a few mini mozzarella balls.
I then baked it in the oven for about 7 minutes and topped the finished pizza with a little drizzle of the pesto, loosened with some olive oil.
The recipe below is a guide and an inspiration - adjust for how much you want to make and the size of your focaccia.
Focaccia - It’s a nice change to use this Italian bread rather than a traditional thinner pizza base. Mine was an 18cm (7”) square piece from the supermarket and I cut it into 6 portions. The management of the finished pizza is much easier if you cut it before you start adding the toppings - I discovered this the hard way!Sometimes, if the bread is very thick, I might split the loaf horizontally before I start, to avoid ‘base overload’. ♡
Pesto - I used some of my kale pesto here (around 1 tablespoon per piece) but you can use whatever you fancy or whatever you are trying to use up. It needs to be spread quite thickly as the core of the flavour is found here.
Roasted vegetables – there are no rules here. I chose cherry tomatoes (cut in halves); courgettes, red onions and peppers (all cut into chunks) and I roasted them in the oven drizzled with olive oil until they were soft and delicious (somewhere between 20-40 minutes - removing each type of vegetable when it was ready). Using baking parchment on the roasting tray is a non-negotiable here! You could also just use one type of vegetable, or you could cut the pieces smaller and do more of a pan-fried approach. ♡
Mini mozzarella balls - I am rather partial to these cute little balls and they do look rather lovely in amongst the colourful vegetables, but a generous sprinkling of grated mozzarella would also work.
Extra virgin olive oil - use some olive oil to loosen up a little of the pesto in a small dish. This can then be drizzled over the pizza pieces when they come out of the oven. ♡
So much of it can be prepared in advance - the roasted vegetables and the pesto can be stored in the fridge until you need them and then when you’re ready, making dinner is simply a construction job. ♡
You can adapt to what you have in the fridge - vary the vegetables, change the pesto. Make it your own. ♡
This is a great dish for feeding a crowd – it’s very easy to scale up and looks fantastic laid out on a few wooden boards ready to serve.
Size up (or down) the dimensions of the pieces depending on your audience - for smaller pieces, it becomes even more important that the bread is not too thick or you’ll end up with something so tall, it may topple over. This is when I may split the loaf horizontally before I begin.
It comes together so very quickly.
The leftovers are wonderful for lunch the next day - but don’t I always say that?!
It’s delicious - I love to serve this Roasted Vegetable Focaccia Pizza with a chopped salad, a few baby potatoes and maybe a little sauerkraut. ♡
Roasted Vegetable Focaccia Pizza
Serves 3-4
Preparation - 10 mins
Cook - 7 mins
Ingredients
A piece of focaccia - mine was 18cm (7”) square
6 tablespoons of pesto + a little extra for drizzling - I used this kale pesto, but you can use any pesto that you love
A selection of roasted vegetables - perhaps leftovers and maybe including some or all of cherry tomatoes, onions, peppers, courgettes
125g (4oz) pack of mini mozzarella balls (I used half of the pack)
extra virgin olive oil to loosen the pesto for drizzling
salt and pepper
You will need – a baking tray lined with baking parchment
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/400°F (gas mark 6) and line a baking tray with parchment.
Cut the focaccia into pieces - adapt the size according to your audience (mine were around 9x3cm) and arrange on the baking tray, leaving a small gap between each piece.
Spread a tablespoon of pesto on each piece of bread - it needs to be spread quite thickly as the core of the flavour is found here.
Arrange the roasted vegetables on each piece – I tend to aim for one of each type of vegetable and I try not to overload.
Add a mini ball of mozzarella to each piece of bread.
Now drizzle each piece with a little extra virgin olive oil and bake in the preheated oven for 7-9 minutes or until everything is warmed through, the outside of the bread is a little bit crunchy and the mozzarella is beginning to melt.
While the pizza is baking, spoon some more of the pesto into a small bowl and loosen it to a runny consistency with some extra virgin olive oil.
When the pizza is ready, remove it from the oven and drizzle each piece with some of the loosened pesto. Enjoy x
This is a big impact, low effort recipe which I hope you will try. Do let me know when you make it; you can join the conversation by commenting below or you can get straight into my inbox by emailing me at rachelpage@substack.com ♡
Sending you all the love,
Note - This recipe contains affiliate links. If you buy something through any of my links, I may earn a small commission, at no cost to you. I recommend only products that I genuinely like. Thank you for trusting me ♡
This looks salivatingly delicious. Unfortunately too much for me, but I can enjoy it in mmy imagination!!