How to make Zucchini Pizza? (Packed with Flavor and fresh herbs)

• Food: Zucchini Pizza
• Writer: Lizzie Green
• Content-Type: Food Blog

The ideal summertime meal is this pizza with zucchini! It is quick and simple to prepare and is flavored with raw and roasted zucchini, pesto, and herbs.

I wrote extensively about our lovely, blooming herb garden last week. The following two days brought torrential rain, which caused our large basil plant to get overwatered and start to lean over.

It’s fortunate that we planted two. Additionally, it’s a good thing we’re not farmers because we can hardly maintain a few deck plants.

On Saturday, we went to the farmers market for the last time to buy vegetables directly from farmers, and I came home with these adorable small zucchini and tiny pattypan squashes.

It gave me the idea to bake a sizable green zucchini pizza to serve with our basil plant #2’s surviving herbs and a generous amount of fragrant fresh thyme.

Zucchini Two Ways: My Pizza Secret!

The zucchini pizza recipe isn’t difficult to make, but because I cooked the squash in two different ways, the finished product has a distinctive blend of tastes and textures. I baked the pattypan squash first, with the crust and cheese on top.

After using a vegetable peeler to remove the small zucchini’s skin, I marinated the thin strips in a little olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme.

The raw marinated zucchini is placed on top of the baked pizza along with a good amount of fresh basil, thyme, pesto, and olive oil.

Because it’s so green and beautiful, it’s enjoyable to construct and put together! It’s also really tasty; add additional pesto to the side for scooping.

Zucchini Pizza

Both roasted and raw zucchini are used in this summertime pizza! We adore the variety of textures and the herbal freshness of the summer.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of fresh pizza dough
• 4 tiny pattypan squash, or 2 medium, cut into 1-inch pieces
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling and brushing
• ½ garlic clove, minced
• 1 (8-ounce) ball of fresh mozzarella, not packed in water
• 8 tiny zucchini peeled into strips, or 1 medium sliced into paper-thin coins
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• Leaves of 4 sprigs of fresh thyme, divided
• ⅓ cup fresh pesto (recipe below)
• ½ cup fresh basil
• Red pepper flakes
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Set the oven’s temperature to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Pizza dough should be stretched out onto a 14-inch pizza pan and par-baked for 3 minutes.
3. Put the pattypan squash in a small bowl and add the minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Drizzle some olive oil over the top.
4. After taking the dough out of the oven, brush it with little olive oil and season it with a little salt. Distribute the pattypan squash pieces and shredded mozzarella evenly over the crust. Bake the crust for 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
5. In the meantime, combine the zucchini strips with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, the leaves from 1 sprig of fresh thyme, and a few grinds of salt and pepper (using the same bowl as before). To marinate, set away.
6. Pizza should be taken out of the oven and topped with the basil, marinated raw zucchini, remaining fresh thyme, and fresh pesto. Add red pepper flakes and drizzle with olive oil. Extra pesto should be served on the side.

Notes

Note: If I’m not using homemade dough, I prefer the Whole Foods multi-grain dough.

Pesto

• 1/2 cup of pepitas
• 1 little clove of garlic 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• black pepper freshly ground
• two teaspoons of lemon juice, fresh
• Fresh basil, 2 cups, and 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Pulse the pepitas, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small food processor to mix. Re-pulse after adding the basil and lemon juice. Drizzle the olive oil in while the blade is operating.