Appetizers anyone?

Appetizers has got to be the most elusive from any cook’s repertoire. The reason is simple. Why serve anything else when you can have chips and salsa? When entertaining a crowd, cooking the entrée can be quite a task in itself. Who has the time and the energy to cook the appetizers too?? Well, this recipe is easy, and delicious. The original recipe is from a famous cook I adore. I made a few changes to it to suit my palette. I particularly like this recipe coz you get many servings at a time. Oh… and the hardware required are simply a rolling pin and a cookie sheet.

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry (thawed overnight or for at least 6 hours.)

-         You get Puff Pastry in the freezer aisle of the grocery store.

-         Packet has two sheets. Depending on the no. of guests, you can use either one or both. The ingredients I’m listing are for one sheet. Simply double it and use it on the other one. Freeze the sheet you don't use.

½ Cup Basil Pesto (you can use the store bought one, else look at my blog on March 7^th)

¼ cup Sun Dried Tomatoes finely chopped

¼ cup chopped Walnuts/Pistachios/ Pine Nuts (You get the drift…. You can use any nut you want)

8 oz crumbled Goat Cheese (The Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges work too)

¼ cup chopped black Olives
Salt & Pepper

Method: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Take the thawed Puff Pastry from the refrigerator, lay it on the counter and roll it out gently using the rolling pin. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and the rolling pin so the puff pastry does not stick. No point in making something if you cannot get it out!!! Try and keep it in its original rectangular shape.

Next spread the pesto on the puff pastry as if you were spreading jam on bread. Now sprinkle the chopped sun dried tomatoes, Nuts, Olives. Crumble the goat Cheese on top of the pesto.Season it. Make a single fold lengthwise on either side of the Puff Pastry towards the middle of the Pastry. Then make the fold again towards the middle. At this point the two folds from either sides are almost touching each other.

 Now finally fold one over the other. So now it’s like a log.
Take a sharp knife, cut of the edges and start slicing it in ¼ inch slices. Place it on the cookie sheet face up. Bake it for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Can be served by itself or with a soup.

 - You dont have to use the exact measurements form this recipe.Just eyeball the ingredients.You can make any changes they want. Don't increase the pesto though, coz it can ooze out when it bakes if you overdo it. 

 - Change any of the stuffing inside as you like. Its quite a fun recipe to play around with. 

 - Try fresh mozzarella too. Just cut it into small cubes.