Here are two easy recipes for puff pastry that make a great little starter or lunch. I bought ready made pastry and then used it for a mushroom and cheese pasty, and an asparagus and red onion tart.In these experiments I found that the pastry needed to be thinner for the pasty, so that it doesn't have a dry texture, and you may want to half bake the pastry for your tart before adding the ingredients so that you don't over cook the asparagus.
Anyhoo... delicious pastry treats that can be done again and again with different ingredients and flavours. Yum!
Asparagus and Red Onion Tarts
Makes 2 tarts
Ingredients
puff pastry
egg, cracked and beaten
1/4 red onion, chopped
4-6 asparagus, chopped in halfolive oil
balsamic vinegar
black pepper
parmesan cheese, grated
Recipe
Preheat the oven to about 180degrees.
Roll out the pastry until it is only a couple of mm thick. Cut into rectangles just longer than your asparagus halves, and fold over the edges. Brush with a little egg.
Fry the red onion and asparagus in a drop of olive oil for 6-8mins until the asparagus begins to soften. Add a healthy splash of balsamic, and season with black pepper.
Fit your mixture into the rectangle of pastry and sprinkle parmesan over the top. Bake in the oven for about 10mins, or until your pastry is golden and flaky.Mushroom and Cheese Pasty
Makes 2 pasties
Ingredients
puff pastryolive oil
1/4 red onion, chopped handful of mushrooms, chopped
black pepper
2 tablespoons of cream cheese
cheddar cheese, gratedegg, cracked and beaten
Recipe
Preheat the oven to about 180degrees.Roll out the pastry until it is only a couple of mm thick. Cut into squares ( about 15cm).
Fry the red onion in a drop of olive oil for a couple of minutes, until it starts to soften. Add the mushrooms and a good twist of black pepper. Fry for a further few minutes, until the mushrooms are browning.
Add the cream cheese to the frying pan, and mix in to coat all of the ingredients.Fit the mixture into one half of the pastry square, leaving space to fold into a triangle. Add the grated cheese.
Brush the egg around the edges, fold the pastry and stick the edges together. You may want to use a fork to add a pattern, or a knife to cut a couple of slits in the top of the pasty. Brush with egg and bake in the oven for about 10mins, or until your pastry is golden and flaky.
