Shopping list, for the pesto
125g pine nuts
a bunch of basil
200ml olive oil
125g pecorino romano cheese
a dash of lemon juice
sea salt & freshly ground pepper
for the pizza bites
½ roll fresh puff pastry
½ free range organic egg, beaten
2 tablespoons pesto
1 packet mini mozzarella balls
100g cherry tomatoes
For tonight we are making Italian pizza bites with pesto, mozzarella and tomato. If you are short on time you can buy the pesto ready made, but we like to make it ourselves. So done and so fresh!
How you make Gennaro Contaldo's fresh pesto
Put the pine nuts in the food processor.
Grind the nuts finely.
Strip the basil leaves off the stems.
Put the leaves in the food processor and grind.
Mix in the olive oil.
Mix in the grated cheese.
Pour the pesto into a bowl.
Season the pesto with salt & pepper and lemon juice.
We need only 2 tablespoons pesto, we freeze the remainder :)).
How to make the Pesto Pizza Bites with Mozzarella and Tomatoes
Roll out the puff pastry and cut using a pizza cutter approximately equal squares out of puff pastry.
Brush egg on top of the squares.
Cut tomatoes and cheese in half.
Top the squares with all three.
Bake the pizza bites 15 minutes.
Spinkle optionally with some finely cut basil leaves
The new year is off to a great start! ;)
Happy New year!