I rarely bake with puff pastry due to the butter content, but I had some in the fridge this week and wasn't sure what to do with it. A root around the fridge revealed a healthy lump of mozzerella, and I always have a rake of fresh basil on hand thanks to my ever-generous indoor plant. These came together beautifully. We ate these puffs as pre-dinner nibbles with a glass of chilled pink wine and they were absolutely delectable. Apologies that I don't have any photos of the puffs in their cut-up, individual and final form, but my camera died and the smell wafting from this dish made me too hungry to search for batteries.
Ingredients:
1 sheet of ready-made puff pastry, defrosted and ready to go
Handful flour
1 egg
1 lump mozzerella, sliced
About 10 - 12 basil leaves
Parmesan cheese
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius (that's fan temperature, so increase if using a conventional oven).
Lightly flour a countertop and open up the pastry. Roll it out a bit so it's slightly thinner than as packaged, and cut it in two like this:
On one side of the pastry, place a layer of the sliced mozzerella, leaving a border of about 1 inch all the way around the edge. Tear up the basil leaves and layer on top. Finally, shave some parmesan (I use a vegetable peeler for parmesan cheese, much easier than grating it) on top. It should look something like this:
Beat the egg in a cup with a splash of water. Brush egg all around the border of the pastry and place the second half of the pastry on top of the cheese and basil. Seal the edges by pressing down with a fork, and brush the entire top of the pastry with eggwash. Make three slits in the top with a knife to allow any steam to escape during cooking.
Put this in the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes until puffed and golden and smelling like a party.
Leave to cool slightly, then cut into slices and serve.
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