From May to October the theme that dominates most of the cooking and eating in our household is fresh. Supper tonight was no exception. The last thing I want to do on a gorgeous light summer night is spend hours in a hot kitchen, wasting valuable daylight and outdoor time. I want something fresh and fast and tasty and whatever it is will probably incorporate some produce from my garden, especially tomatoes. If it's too early for my own tomatoes - then tomatoes from the local farmers' market.
This is a great light and fresh tasting pizza. Because it uses phyllo dough, you eliminate a lot of farting around with making dough and waiting for it to rise. Also, because it's less doughy, it is a lighter meal - not so heavy on those carbs that keep us going all winter but just make you lethargic during the heat of summer.
Using phyllo also cuts way down on the prep time. I made this pizza and got it into the oven in less than 10 minutes.
Makes one small, approximately 8 by 14 inch rectangular pizza which should serve 3 or 4
- 6 sheets phyllo
- spray on olive oil
- 1 cup ricotta
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
- 5 cloves garlic crushed and minced
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon good sea salt
- 2 or 3 large firm ripe tomatoes, sliced into nice thick (1/2 - 3/4 cm) slices
- 1/2 cup good quality feta, crumbled
Spray a thin layer of olive oil onto the surface of a 9 X 14 inch cake pan. You can also use a small cookie sheet or a pizza pan if you prefer. Lay one sheet of phyllo on the pan with the edges hanging over the edge of the pan. Spray that sheet of dough lightly with oil. Top with another sheet of phyllo and spray it as well. repeat until you've used all the sheets up and the bottom of the pan is covered in 6 layers of dough. If your phyllo sheets are smaller and don't cover the pan totally, you'll need to use more than six. try to make sure you overlap the seams and try to stagger the seams as between layers.
Press dough firmly into corners of the pan. You can either trim the overhanging dough level with the edges of the pan or you can fold each edge under.
Preheat oven to 400F.
In a medium sized bowl, mix ricotta, dill (reserve a small portion for the top of the pizza, garlic, salt and pepper. Use a large spoon to spread the cheese mixture evenly over the base of the dough.
Top the ricotta mixture with tomato slices. Top the tomato slices with crumbeld feta and remaining dill.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the pizza lookews cooked and the feta cheese is browned on top. If the feta is not as brown as you'd like, use strips of tim foil to cover the edges of the dough and put the pizza under the broiler for a couple of minutes. Serve with a simple green salad with lemon dressing.
Having gotten to that comfortable point with phyllo dough, it opens up a world of new possibilites.
I'll be adding this to the list!
Looks beautiful and tasty.
Posted by: Tanna | August 03, 2006 at 01:08 AM
Great combination of flavours - I'll have to keep this one in mind for our own summers when we get temperatures of over 40 degrees Celcius!
Posted by: Ellie | August 05, 2006 at 08:37 AM
I just wanted to let you know that I've made this twice now, and it's tremendous. Thank you so much for what's almost certainly going to become one of my summer staple recipes.
Posted by: Idealistic Pragmatist | August 18, 2006 at 05:24 PM
Tomatoes are one of the most common vegetables all over the world. They are quickly growing plants and are favorite among most amateur gardeners so as me.
I will start to grow tomatoes in my farm and now learning watever i can about them, thanks for information. I also
found another good site about tomatoes and so many other methods of agriculturing, i recommend you to take a look.
http://agricultureguide.org/
Posted by: Caglar Keskin | May 21, 2010 at 09:41 AM
That pizza looks so thick and spicy yet very delicious and creamy inside. On top of it all, I really love tomatoes especially fresh ones with cheese.
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