Fancy a tasty rustic pie? The puff pastry with rice, vegetables and ham is a hearty one-dish meal, a savory pie to prepare for dinner, a picnic, parties or a buffet. It can also be made to use up leftover cold cuts and/or vegetables. The base is puff pastry but you can also use shortcrust pastry, quick pastry or a savory tart dough as the “container.” The puff pastry with rice and vegetables is a colorful, cheerful recipe, and children — who often don’t look kindly on vegetables — will also enjoy it.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 6/8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 roll Puff pastry
- 7 oz Rice (for risottos or timbales (about 1 cup))
- 1 Zucchini
- 1 Bell pepper
- 3.5 oz Pumpkin
- 3.5 oz Stracchino cheese
- as needed Extra virgin olive oil
- as needed Fine salt
- 1 pinch Ground turmeric
- as needed Ground black pepper
- 2 slices Prosciutto (cured or cooked ham)
Preparation
Cook the rice in plenty of salted water. When it’s cooked, drain it thoroughly, immediately add the stracchino, 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the ham (speck works well too) cut into very small pieces, turmeric and ground black pepper. Mix until the stracchino is completely melted and absorbed by the rice, then let it cool slightly.
In the meantime, wash and cut the vegetables into very small cubes so they cook evenly and quickly.
Preheat the oven, conventional mode (no fan), to 392°F. When it’s hot, prepare the baking pan by lining it with parchment paper and place the puff pastry on it. Fill it with the filling (the vegetables are placed raw), level it with the back of a spoon and bake the pie on the middle rack for about 25 minutes or until the puff pastry is puffed and well browned on the bottom. After removing it from the oven, let it rest for 10 minutes, then, using the parchment paper and with great care because hot puff pastry is extremely fragile, place it on a cooling rack to prevent condensation from forming on the base.
Our puff pastry with rice, vegetables and ham is ready to be enjoyed. You can make it in advance and reheat it in the oven, if needed, at 302°F for a few minutes.
Cooking tips. If the puff pastry with rice, vegetables and ham is baked in an oven that heats from both top and bottom, I recommend covering its surface with a sheet of parchment paper, removing it about 5 minutes before taking it out; this way the rice on the surface won’t burn or dry out, it will stay moist and soft, very pleasant to the palate.
