Take a piece of puff pastry

"Keeping a supply of puff pastry sheets in the freezer is like paying your insurance premiums. Except in this case, it is a delight to be able to take advantage of being paid up." Food Lust, People Love

Coles Magazine and coincidences again. Almost hidden in their quick tips section was a recipe for Bacon and Parmesan Twists (on the left). The picture on the right is from Food Lust, People Love, and is a slightly different version of the same thing. The Coles recipe is so simple I will give it here:

Cut a puff pastry sheeting 2cm-wide strips. Sprinkle with shredded parmesan, smoked paprika and thyme sprigs. Halve streaky bacon rashers lengthways and arrange on top. Carefully twist to enclose filling. Bake on a lined tray at 200ºC for 20-25 mins or until golden and cooked through.

Obviously this can be varied - the spices, the cheese ... Jamie Oliver has a version with just cheese.

I was wondering how I could work it into a post - after all there is not much to say bout it really, and then came the coincidence - well Nigel Slater's recipe of the day was for New Garlic and Mushroom tart, which was similarly dead simple and very appetising sounding.

And then I remembered a few other very simple things I have done with puff pastry so I thoughtI had enough of these to create a post from and it would enable me to pass them on. Most of them I was able to find online.

And no I do not make my own puff pastry. Delia Smith has contrived a quick flaky pastry which is worth a look if you want to have a go. Felicity Cloake thought it was better than a home-made puff pastry when she did her thing on sausage rolls. It remained crisp and the puff pastry didn't. Delia worked out her method because of the tedium of making puff pastry. I did do it once myself, (puff pastry that is) and yes it was tedious and not all that successful. Her flaky pastry, which I have also tried, was good though. She has a video on her website. She doesn't have a recipe for puff pastry because:

"It involves rolling and folding the pastry several times to trap the air, and letting it rest between rollings. It is a labour of love and dedication - and can be therapeutic if you have time to lock yourself away for a few hours - but it is not something for the fraught cook, trying to juggle this with the rest of life happening outside the kitchen." Delia Smith

And even Dan Lepard - a cheffy chef, seems to imply that it's not really worth doing:

"If you're going to make puff pastry, make a lot, as it's much easier to roll that way. And it's an effort so it's a relief to have it in the freezer when you want to make the perfect pie." Dan Lepard

So the answer seems to be to buy ready-made sheets of the stuff - but do make sure it is made with butter - and the Pampas version does seem to only use butter - well a bit of milk, but no margarine or other oil. The ones made with other fats are not nearly as good. Or try Delia's flaky pastry.

So what can you do with your bought puff pastry? Well hundreds, if not thousands of things of course. When I looked around I found lots of tarte tatin recipes savoury and sweet. But the one that really convinced me of the wonders of bought puff pastry was Nigella's chocolate croissants. I made these for David's 70th birthday brunch. All you do is cut your sheet of pastry into triangles, put a piece of chocolate in the middle and roll up (from the long side), brush with egg and cook. And boy did they taste good! I saw some other versions on the web which used nutella instead of chocolate and there was also an almond croissant recipe somewhere. This might have been a bit more complicated though. Do try it. It takes but a moment to prepare and not much longer to cook.

Then another recipe I have made a few times now is Stephanie Alexander's Tomato and Mustard Tart. Spread the pastry with mustard, put the tomatoes on top and cook - well it's slightly more complicated than that, but not much. I guess Nigel Slater's tart above is a similar thing. And also these three:

On the left you have something that is simply called Easy Tart, which I originally found in delicious but seems to be from an English cook called Sophie Wright. Next is Cheese and Herb Free-form Tart, which is indeed from delicious. And they do have lots of similar ideas here. Really the only thing was whether to cook the base first or not. My last picture is one from Jill Dupleix - Sardine and Tomato Tart.

Another generic recipe from which you can invent a whole lot of other things is Pesto and Cheese Scrolls. Well actually when I found the recipe I found I had been a bit slapdash and the recipe was actually made with a dough, not puff pastry. But there are lots of other recipes out there for this type of thing with puff pastry. Just spread your sheet of pastry with whatever you want your filling to be, roll it up, slice and bake. Hey presto! Great for lunch boxes they say.

And last but not least and returning to Coles Magazine - I have made these a few times - are Quince Paste and Vintage Cheddar Tarts. Simple and a little bit different and very moreish.