Award-winning Chef, Neven Maguire’s Easy Pizza Da Piero Recipe

Italian master-baker, Gianpiero De Vallier, is the man behind Pizza da Piero and the baker that introduced fresh, artisan pizza to Ireland, handmade in traditional Italian style. Created with carefully chosen ingredients for a pizza base that is full of authentic Italian flavour, Pizza da Piero bases are made over a two-day period in the traditional Italian method. The dough is fresh, healthy and digestible, using carefully selected ingredients; flour, water, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and a small amount of yeast. Loved across Ireland, Pizza da Piero has also taken the attention of local celebrities, such as award-winning chef, Neven Maguire, who enjoys the “authentic and incredibly easy” aspect of the popular, guilt-free pizza bases. Neven Maguire enjoys his Pizza da Piero base with butternut squash and Cashel Blue cheese calling it, “a fantastic pizza that will be better than anything you can order to be delivered”.

Here’s Neven’s recipe:

Pumpkin Pizza with Cashel Blue and Pickled Red Onion

3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle

450g pumpkin/butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced

1 Grande ready-made Pizza da Piero artisan bases

225g Cashel Blue cheese, broken up

2 handfuls of wild rocket leaves 

Pickled Red Onion:

4 tbsp caster sugar

4 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 red onion, very thinly sliced

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 240° (475°F/gas mark 9).
  2. Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over medium–high heat.
  3. Sauté the pumpkin for 8-10 minutes, until it is cooked through but still holding its shape.
  4. During this, make the pickled red onions by adding sugar and vinegar to a small pan and bringing to a simmer until the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat and add the red onion slices. Season and set aside allowing the flavours to combine.
  5. Put the two Pizza da Piero bases on two large baking sheets and place the sautéed squash and Cashel Blue on top.
  6. Bake for about 5 minutes until the base is crisp and blue cheese has melted and remove from the oven.
  7. Add mounds of the sweet pickled red onion, draining any excess liquid.
  8. Serve straight to the table.

Alternatively, if you would prefer a more traditional pizza using Pizza da Piero, drain a good quality can of plum tomatoes (such as ‘Cirio’) with a pinch of sea salt, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of oregano. Then, blitz to a purée with a hand blender and spread as a tomato topping on the two grande pizza bases. Finish off with chunks of raw chorizo and mozzarella, sprinkling pink peppercorns, or trying slices of Milleen’s cheese with pieces of sun-dried tomatoes.

Pizza da Piero bases are widely available in three different sizes, grande (used in Neven Maguire’s recipe), medium 12” and mini bases. Available in SuperValu, Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Avoca, Cavistons Food Emporium, Ardkeen Quality Food and Sheridan’s Cheesemongers. Found in the fridge section the bases retail at roughly €5.99 for pizza grande, €3.99 for 2 medium 12” or 4 mini pizza bases. Each pizza base is vegan-friendly, free from sugar and the 12” medium size contains less than 365 calories.

Follow Pizza da Piero on Facebook and Twitter or visit the new website pizzadapiero.ie for ideas, recipes and more.