The Neapolitan ‘Parigina

The ‘Parigina’ is a rustic pizza typical of the Neapolitan cuisine, or so they say. It consists of a pizza base topped with tomato sauce, boiled ham and mozzarella cheese and covered with a sheet of puff pastry.

The recipe is not complicated, but it does take time to prepare. First of all, you need to prepare the pizza base the day before. For the pizza, we use a recipe that I honestly can’t remember where I found it, but it’s really great.

The pizza was cold.

Tiziano Gargani

To make my tomato sauce, we put the tomato puree, tomato paste, salt, chopped basil and half a clove of garlic in a container. Leave to stand for a few hours.

For the Parigina we need cooked ham and mozzarella. I recommend using the mozzarella only after it has been cut and left to drain for a few hours, so that it does not release any liquid during cooking and soften the base too much. In my case, I used smoked buffalo mozzarella.

To complete the parigina, we cover the sauce with a layer of puff pastry. Personally, I use a ready-made puff pastry that you can easily find on the market. There are many brands of good quality puff pastry, so you can choose the one you prefer. However, if you have the time and inclination, you can make your own puff pastry.

Finally, brush the surface of the pastry with a mixture of egg yolk and milk. This will give the Parigina its characteristic golden colour during baking. It is not necessary to overdo it, a light coating is sufficient.

Place the parigina in the oven and bake until the pastry is golden and crispy. At this point we can share it with friends, cut it into slices and serve it as a starter or main course. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Pizza dough
• 200g tomato puree
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 5/10 slices cooked ham
• 250g mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg (optional)
• Q.B. Milk (optional)
• Q.B. Salt
• Q.B. Basil (Leaves, do not use dried basil!)
• Q.B. Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

• This is a very simple recipe that can be prepared in a very short time, so let’s start by placing the 250g pizza dough that we prepared earlier in the 24cm baking tin, cover it with cling film and leave it to rise for another 30/40 minutes.
• Once it has risen, pour a little oil over it and spread the dough with your fingertips, making sure it covers the whole of the tin, then pour the tomato, spread the ham, put the mozzarella on top and cover with a sheet of puff pastry.
• Pour the milk and egg yolks into a small bowl or glass, mix with a fork and spread over the entire surface of the Pizza Rustica using a brush or spoon.
• Bake in a ventilated oven at 200° for about 35 minutes. Once cooked, I recommend leaving the oven off for 5/10 minutes.
• Now all you have to do is cut it and enjoy.

Notes

• Once cooked, I recommend leaving the oven off for 5/10 minutes before slicing and serving