Vegetable stuffed pastries are delicious baked puff pastry shells filled with eggplants and zucchinis, perfect to serve as a vegetarian appetizer, rich side dish, or main course. It’s a light recipe, really very easy and tasty, a different way to serve vegetables and make them appreciated even by children. We can also use puff pastry and enhance the pastries by adding mozzarella, sausages, and anything else we like, to create always different flavors and fillings. They are also perfect if served as dinner.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients
- 2 rolls puff pastry
- 2 eggplants
- 2 zucchinis
- 1 clove garlic
- 9 oz tomato sauce
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste fresh basil
- to taste fine salt
Preparation
Wash and remove the waste parts from the vegetables. Cut them into small chunks, as uniform as possible for even cooking.
Transfer the vegetable chunks to a large non-stick skillet with a pinch of fine salt but without adding any type of fat.
Mix well over medium heat, being careful not to burn them, until they wilt (about 10 minutes). During this time, the eggplants and zucchinis will dry out; in fact, most of the water will evaporate, preventing the pastries from becoming soggy.
Transfer the vegetables to a plate; in the hot skillet, instead, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a garlic clove. Let the garlic brown, add the tomato sauce (fresh tomatoes are also fine, especially if in season), a good amount of torn basil, mix, cover, lower the heat, and let it cook for another 10 minutes or so. Then, adjust the salt, turn off the heat, and let everything cool for 30 minutes.
After half an hour, preheat the oven to 392°F. Meanwhile, cut 12 circles – about 4 inches in diameter – from the puff pastry, fill them as in the photo with a spoonful of vegetables and close them into a half-moon shape or another form (especially if you want to differentiate them based on the filling) pressing on the edge to prevent them from opening during cooking.
Place the vegetable stuffed pastries on a baking sheet with parchment paper, and bake them in the middle of the already hot oven for about 15-18 minutes. They should brown evenly; if they tend to darken too much, lower the oven temperature to 356°F. Remove them from the oven and let them cool slightly before enjoying.
Additional idea. We can enrich our vegetable stuffed pastries with mozzarella, provolone, melting cheese; or with sausages, cooked ham, minced meat, etc.
Puff pastry can be replaced with puff pastry dough.
