I wish I could come up with a more imaginative name for this dish, however it has been a longstanding favourite in my family home and has been referred to simply as the ‘pastry thing’ for over 10 years now, and so the name has stuck.

This is the perfect meal to make for a group of people, e.g. if you are entertaining friends at your place. It also keeps well in the fridge so can be eaten cold the next day!

The recipe is quite an easy one, which makes it great for cooking whilst in university accommodation. Essentially this dish is very similar to a pizza, however arguably healthier and has some different textures and tastes to it. Because this recipe is quite straightforward, it is easy to make without all of the ‘correct’ ingredients. I recently used ½ a jar of Tesco tomato vegetable pasta sauce because it was the only similar ingredient I Had in the cupboard – other than being slightly runny it worked quite well as a substitute).

In terms of toppings, this dish can be fairly flexible. I will recommend the type of meat/veg that I usually put on top of my ‘pastry thing’, however feel free to vary these to suit your preferences. I have made this dish lots of times now, sometimes as a vegetarian dish and other times using meat. Whilst both are good, I found if meat is used it is best to not put too much of this on, as it sometimes makes the dish drier and heavier compared to using more vegetables.

Ingredients:

Essential:

• 320g ready roll puff pastry sheet
• 190g Tomato Paste (alternatively: 200g tomato pizza topper sauce or 250g chunky vegetable pasta sauce)
• Grated cheese (however much you would like to put on!)

Optional toppings:

• Chicken
• Bacon
• Mushrooms
• Sweetcorn
• X3 Fresh tomatoes
• X1 bell pepper

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Step 2:

Take the pastry out of its packet and flatten it onto a flat oven tray (if you have something you can put underneath it like baking paper this helps avoid sticking)

If you intend on using meat, chop your chicken into small pieces and place in a frying pan with oil to cook. (season this with salt and pepper if you would like!) Sometimes, I also like to chop an onion and fry this with the chicken.

After 5 minutes take 3 thin slices of bacon (too much bacon makes the dish too salty) and chop into small pieces, add this to the pan with the chicken and allow both of these to cook. (As these will later be going into the oven on top of the pastry, try not to overcook the meat at this point. Although, I tend to cook the chicken more than often required just to be extra safe).

Step 3:

Spread the tomato paste evenly over the sheet of puff pastry. I have used tomato puree tubes in the past. Whilst these do work to an extent, usually this burns a lot quicker and doesn’t have as ‘fresh’ a taste as a tomato sauce does.

Step 4:

Grate a thin layer of cheese onto the pastry (more will be added later).

Step 5:

Thinly slice the vegetables and arrange them on top of the first layer of cheese.

Step 6:

Once the chicken and bacon is ready (if you are using meat), add these on top of the pastry.

Step 7:

Add another layer of cheese. Don’t be scared to add plenty of grated cheese, often I find I haven’t added enough. Whilst it may look like a lot initially, usually once it comes out of the oven it appears to be less than before (this is evident on some of the pictures below).

Step 8:

Place the tray with the pastry in the oven for 20-25 minutes. The puff pastry packet often says 30 minutes, however in my experience it always takes less time than that, and often I have left it too long and it has burnt!

Note: if everyone has 2 small pieces, this usually serves 4 people. If you are feeding quite a few people I recommend providing sides such as potato wedges or tender-stem broccoli.