Recipe | Mediterranean vegetable strudel

I feel it is essential to serve this pie with basil pesto because it rounds out all the flavours. I like to use a mixture of different coloured capsicums — not only do they look great, they also add slightly different flavour profiles.

Strudel

Ingredients

4 capsicums (mix of red, orange, yellow and green, if you can) 

1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing 

Salt 

1 eggplant 

3 zucchini 

1 quantity Flaky Pastry (see below)

1 tbsp Pizza Sauce (see below)

200g fresh ricotta 

Flaky salt 

Dried oregano 

Freshly ground black pepper 

1 egg 

Basil Pesto (see below), to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 190˚C fan bake. 

Remove the cheeks and bases from the capsicums, leaving them in large pieces. Discard the seeds and core. Toss in the olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, then roast for 30 minutes, until tender. 

Cut the ends off the eggplant and discard. Cut the rest lengthways into 1cm slices. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. 

Cut the ends off the zucchini and discard. Cut the zucchini lengthways into four strips, five if they are big. 

Chargrill the eggplant and zucchini on a grill pan or barbecue until nicely charred and cooked through. 

Turn the oven up to 200˚C fan bake. 

Cut the block of pastry in half, with one half slightly bigger than the other. 

On a lightly floured bench, roll out the smaller block of pastry to a rectangle 20 x 30cm, 4mm thick. Place this into a baking tray lined with baking paper. 

To build your pie, smear the pizza sauce over the pastry base leaving 2.5cm around the side. Layer the vegetables, starting with half of the eggplant, then half of the capsicum, then half of the zucchini. Crumble over the ricotta and place on top of the zucchini. Season well with flaky salt, dried oregano and black pepper. Layer the rest of your vegetables in the same order. 

Roll the bigger pastry block to a rectangle 24 x 34cm, 3mm thick. Fold the rectangle in half lengthways with the folded edge towards you. With a sharp knife, cut 1cm wide strips from the folded edge towards the open edge, leaving 2.5cm around the open edges uncut. 

Spray or brush the edges of the pie with water. Lay the top pastry onto half of the pie, lengthways while it is still folded then unfold it over the other half. Stick the edges together. You may need to adjust the pastry to get all of the strips into place. 

Whisk the egg and egg-wash the pie. Bake for 25 minutes. 

Serve warm with basil pesto.

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Shortcrust flaky pastry

Ingredients

225g butter, room temperature firm 

300g high-grade white flour 

Pinch salt

185ml cold water

Method

Rub 30g of butter into the flour and salt by hand, or use an electric mixer. Add the cold water and bring together to form a soft dough. Wrap the dough in cling film or baking paper and rest in the fridge for 10 minutes, then roll out to a 40 x 20cm rectangle. Break the remaining butter into small pieces and dot it over two thirds of the rectangle. Fold the plain third of the pastry over to the centre. Then fold the buttered third over to make a square. Give the pastry a quarter turn on the bench. Gently roll the pastry out. Start by pushing down with the rolling pin. Roll out to 50 x 16cm then repeat the same fold sequence as before. Wrap the pastry in cling film or baking paper and rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Repeat the rolling out and folding sequence five more times, resting the pastry in the fridge each time.

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Pizza sauce

Ingredients

800g tinned whole tomatoes (preferably Italian) 

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 

80ml olive oil 

Salt 

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Put the tomatoes into a jug and blend with a stick blender until smooth. Place the garlic and olive oil into a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring and watching until the garlic turns golden brown. Be careful not to undercook the garlic, as it will taste raw; and similarly, be careful not to overcook it, as it will become bitter. Quickly pour in the blended tomatoes and add salt and pepper. Turn the heat up to bring to a boil, then turn back down to a simmer, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes, until the sauce is nice and glossy. Check the seasoning and adjust to taste.

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Basil pesto

1 tightly packed cup basil leaves 

½ cup pine nuts 

½ cup grated Parmesan 

½ cup olive oil 

1 heaped tsp flaky salt 

Juice of ½ lemon 

1 clove garlic, chopped

Method

Place all ingredients into a jug and process with a stick blender until the desired consistency is reached.

 

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Wendy Morgan grew up working in the family bakery Hillyer’s in Lincoln, Canterbury. She went on to train as a chef at Christchurch Polytec and Cordon Bleu cook at the Auckland school of Cordon Bleu. She owned Citron restaurant in Wellington with her husband and fellow chef Rex Morgan. She worked for a number of years for Moore Wilson’s in Wellington producing their ready-to go-food. Wendy and Rex now live in Christchurch enjoying a quieter life with their dog Pepper, growing a kitchen garden.

 

More recipes by Wendy Morgan — 

Cauliflower tart

Crumbed mushrooms with sherry cream sauce

Brown butter sage sauce with gnocchi

Apricot & blackberry cobbler