The latest in our series of midweek meals from Cooks&Co is this tasty recipe for spicy feta, pepper and courgette pizzas. Everyone loves a pizza, but it’s a lot more satisfying to make your own than to defrost something from a box. Mind you, as pizza dough takes some making, and this is supposed to be a quick and easy midweek meal, we’re using frozen pizza dough balls for speed.
There’s some conflict over whether pizza is a traditional Italian dish, of whether it’s an American invention. We don’t really care, we just know we like it. Feta cheese is the ideal topping, a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep’s milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat’s milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brine. Its flavour is tangy and salty, ranging from mild to sharp, so you have a wide choice of taste experiences.
And where would we be without the humble courgette, or as the Americans would call then, zucchini; their delicate flavour suits being simply cooked with butter or olive oil and herbs, or used in more complex dishes. The skin is usually left in place in order to keep the slices’ shape while cooking. Courgettes can also be eaten raw, sliced or shredded, in a cold salad, as well as lightly cooked in hot salads, as in Thai or Vietnamese recipes. Mature (larger sized) courgettes, or baby marrows, are well suited for cooking in breads.
Prep: 15 minutes plus defrosting
Cook: 12-15 minutes
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
- 2 x 220g frozen pizza dough balls, defrosted
- 100g pizza sauce
- 200g grated mozzarella
- 1 courgette, cut into ribbons
- 150g Cooks&Co Roasted Red & Yellow Peppers, quartered
- 25g Cooks&Co Tri-Colour Jalapeno Slices
- 100g feta
- Drizzle extra virgin olive oil and basil leaves to serve
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 240oC, gas mark 9.
- On a floured surface, roll out each dough ball into a rough 30cm round and place on 2 large lightly floured baking trays. Spread with the pizza sauce leaving a 2cm border.
- Sprinkle with cheese and top with courgette ribbons, peppers and jalapenos. Crumble over the feta and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Drizzle with extra oil and scatter over a few basil leaves to serve.
Cook’s tip
Add spoonfuls of mascarpone instead of feta.
See also: Midweek Meal: Herby Goat Cheese and Porcini Risotto
