Easy, quick, and absolutely appetizing, the savory puff pastries with zucchini are a recipe that always gains much success and can be enjoyed practically all year round for many occasions: as an appetizer for a family dinner or with friends, as a snack for aperitif, as a vegetarian main course, or as a savory snack for a picnic or outdoor lunch. The zucchini puff pastries recipe is really simple: just slice the zucchini very thin, so they cook directly in the oven, and make a tasty cream based on ricotta and pecorino. This filling will enrich the puff pastry, on which you will lay the sliced zucchini, before seasoning everything with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt, oregano, and some mint leaves for a fresh touch.
For this recipe, I used a rectangular puff pastry, thus obtaining eight savory pastries, but you can easily adapt the recipe to your taste: cut the pastry into smaller bites to create buffet finger food, or use a round pastry disc and turn everything into a savory pie to slice as you like. The savory puff pastries with zucchini are a practical and tasty recipe to always have on hand, especially when you have little time but want to prepare something good!
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very affordable
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 8 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 433.96 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 29.80 (g) of which sugars 0.64 (g)
- Proteins 11.93 (g)
- Fat 29.93 (g) of which saturated 7.49 (g)of which unsaturated 19.96 (g)
- Fibers 1.26 (g)
- Sodium 300.62 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 45 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 8 zucchini puff pastries
If you are celiac, you can make these pastries using gluten-free puff pastry. If you can only find the round one on the market, you can trim the edges to make a rectangular pastry.
- 1 roll puff pastry (rectangular)
- 1 zucchini
- 250 g ricotta
- 1 tbsp Pecorino Romano (grated)
- 2 pinches salt
- to taste pepper
- 1 pinch oregano
- 1 pinch mint
- 1 drizzle extra virgin olive oil
Tools
- 1 Mandoline
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Baking tray
- 1 Pastry wheel
How to prepare savory puff pastries with zucchini and ricotta
To prepare the zucchini pastries, start by washing and trimming the zucchini. Dry it, then slice it very thin using a mandoline (1). If you don’t have one, with a little patience, you can achieve the same result using a very sharp knife, but remember that to cook properly, the zucchini slices must be very thin (2). Set them aside.
In a bowl, combine the ricotta, grated pecorino, a pinch of salt, a grind of pepper, and a pinch of oregano and mint (3). Quickly mix everything with a spoon until you get a homogeneous cream (4).
Unroll the puff pastry directly onto the oven tray, placing it horizontally. With a pastry wheel or knife, cut out 8 rectangles (5). Distribute the ricotta cream in the center of each rectangle (6).
With a knife, spread it, trying to form an even layer and leaving about half a cm (1/4 inch) of free space on all sides of each rectangle (7). Place the zucchini slices on top of the ricotta, slightly overlapping them (8).
Season the surface with a pinch of salt, a pinch of oregano, and mint. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (9). Bake the savory pastries in the preheated oven at 350°F (fan) for about 25 minutes. When the edges are puffed and the zucchini are slightly golden, take them out and let them cool (10).
You can serve the savory puff pastries with zucchini either hot or at room temperature.
Storage
You can keep the zucchini pastries at room temperature for a few hours, then it’s better to store them in the fridge (especially if it’s very hot) and warm them briefly before consuming.
Tips and Variations
Instead of ricotta, you can use another type of spreadable cheese: Philadelphia, robiola, stracchino, or goat cheese for a more distinct flavor.
