Illustrated Italian Recipes: Pizza Margherita with Filo Pastry | Italian Food Illustration

I’m very excited to share with you the first recipe in my Illustrated Italian Recipes blog series, featuring a simple Pizza Margherita made with ready-made filo pastry.

My husband and I started making this delicious summer favourite following our recent Italy Culinary Tour that took us to Milano (Milan) and Southern Italy. Before taking the high-speed train, Frecciarossa, from Milano to Napoli (Naples), my husband and I popped by COOP to stock up on snacks for our road trip. Their bakery had freshly baked filo-pastry nests with a topping of tomato paste and mozzarella cheese. Those little snacks were so scrumptious we decided to make them when we got back from the trip.

But before sharing the actual recipe with you, let me just tell you a little bit about COOP, which my husband loves to shop at every time we’re in Italy.

Established more than 150 years ago in 1854, COOP brings together a network of Italian cooperatives that produce everything from authentic cheeses, to pasta, to all sorts of culinary and household products, and then sells them in the largest supermarket chain in Italy.

The prices are quite affordable and the quality is truly superior. If you’ve seen my illustrations for my Milano trip post, you’ll see a couple of COOP-labelled products, like their beige-coloured coffee packs. They also make their own tomato paste, which we also like to buy before we head to the airport.

By buying from COOP, we make sure that we are actually supporting some small farm somewhere in Italy, or a small-sized cheese maker who makes a living in the rural part of this beautiful Mediterranean country.

Italian Pizza with a Twist

The most important thing about Italian cooking is the ingredients. Before meeting my husband I didn’t really have a strong grasp on this concept, but after tasting his delicious pizzas and pasta dishes, I came to understand why a simple dish made with a few ingredients could taste so divine. It’s the ingredients.

And for this reason, you can’t just use any kind of filo pastry to make this Pizza Margherita con Pasta Sfoglia, literally translating into “Pizza Margherita with Filo Pastry.”

Try to find a puff pastry that uses real butter instead of hydrogenated oils; it will taste superb and also be better for your health!

Filo Pastry Pizza Margherita: The Recipe

Topped with fresh cherry tomatoes, gooey Mozzarella di Bufala and a tangy tomato paste with olive oil, our version of filo pastry Pizza Margherita promises to become your next summer favourite. It’s easy and quick to make and it sure will delight the senses with its light crumbly base and fresh and healthy ingredients.

If you can’t get hold of Mozzarella di Bufala in your local cheese store, no prob; you can always use other available varieties.

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Pizza Margherita con Pasta Sfoglia: Filo Pastry Pizza

Author: Yaansoon Illustration + Art

Recipe type: Main Dish

Cuisine: Italian

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 2

This filo pastry Pizza Margherita is a flavour meal to enjoy in the sunshine! A summer favourite, this quick version of Italian pizza uses just a few simple ingredients and is truly easy and quick to make.

Ingredients

10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved
10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 filo pastry base, about 30 x 20cm
1 filo pastry base, about 30 x 20cm
Mozzarella di Bufala, cubed
Mozzarella di Bufala, cubed
Olive oil, 1 tbsp
Olive oil, 1 tbsp
2–3 tbsp tomato paste
2–3 tbsp tomato paste
Salt, to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F).
Mix the tomato paste with olive oil and a pinch of salt to taste. Try not to add too much salt, as this paste will caramelise in the oven, leaving you with a saltier taste than when in liquid form.
Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Layer the pastry base on and brush generously with tomato paste and olive oil mixture, leaving a 2cm border all around.
Top with the halved cherry tomatoes and cubed Mozzarella, and then bake in the oven for 12–15 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.
Serve and enjoy!

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Old Illustrations

My illustration style is ever evolving. Sometimes I look at the artwork I’ve posted on this blog and feel like I need to recreate the piece. This has been the case with this Italian pizza Margherita illustration. Here are the illustrations I first created for this post, which I have removed for a while, but think it’s important to keep them as a reminder of how one can approach the same illustration project in different ways.