January 3, 2018
This week I wanted to share a great recipe that I tried a few weeks back which was a huge hit! We had our house warming party (feels like ages ago now) and I decided to give these a whirl as something for everyone to snack on before the BBQ we put on. I’m glad I did plan these actually because we ended up leaving the BBQ until quite late (guess we were being bad hosts and enjoying ourselves a little too much hehe), so it was great having made these ahead as I could bring them out to keep the hunger at bay while my partner cooked everything!
I find it’s often difficult to get recipes that don’t take a lot of prep or a lot of cooking during the party. With so much other stuff to do you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen, but you also don’t want to be cooking in the middle of the party and not socialising with guests (especially when your kitchen is in the main entertaining area). I find I always default to cheese platters for this reason: they are super easy to prepare and you can set them up before the party to be enjoyed by everyone when they feel like it. But because I always do them this time I wanted to try something new.
I’ve seen a lot of recipes for pinwheels and always wanted to try them. I’ve never really cooked with puff pasty before so I was a bit hesitant, and this is probably why its taken me so long. My roommate in Melbourne made some delicious vegetarian ones when we lived together, and I’ve always wanted to recreate them because they were so tasty! So I took the opportunity to give these a go.
I don’t know whether it was because everyone was hungry (we did have a lot of cheese and other snacks so I’d like to think it wasn’t), but these pinwheels were an absolute hit! They were awesome as well because they only required a little bit of prep work at the start, and then a little bit of prep before baking, but were still really easy to make while the party was going on! I think the best thing though was that they seemed like a lot more effort, and a lot fancier, than they actually were!
- 3 sheets puff pastry
- 3 tbsp tomato pasta sauce
- 150 grams good quality ham, diced
- 1 packet mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 egg beaten
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Take one sheet of puff pastry and place on the bench. Spread 1 tablespoon of the tomato pasta sauce all over the sheet, adding more if necessary. Sprinkle some of the ham and a generous serving of cheese over the top.
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Roll the sheet of puff pastry into a roll, starting on the side furthest from you at the long edge. Use a brush to coat the top of the roll with the egg wash and seal the roll. Cover the finished roll in glad wrap.
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Repeat with the remaining rolls and place in the fridge for 4 hours, or until ready to serve.
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When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180C and line baking trays with baking paper. Remove the rolls from the fridge and place on a chopping board out of the glad wrap. Chop each roll into even pieces and place each piece face down on the baking paper. Continue until all the rolls are chopped.
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Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the puff pastry has risen and is golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a plat for about 5 minutes until serving.
So there you have it – I told you it was easy! I know it is cheating a bit using pasta sauce and not making my own, but when you’re cooking for the masses, sometimes you just want a quick and easy way to do something, and this definitely helps with that! You could just as easily make your own pasta sauce or use tomato paste and add some herbs and garlic. You could also make these vegetarian by leaving out the ham!
What I love so much about this recipe is that they are super easy to make, but absolutely delicious! They are perfect when everyone is having a few drinks, and great as something different before dinner that isn’t a cheese platter. I loved that they didn’t require much effort at all, and all I had to do was chop them up and cook them when the time was right, so it meant I wasn’t stuck in the kitchen! These are also great to freeze and pull out when you need them, I know my roommate did this and it was a lovely surprise when we felt like a bit of a treat!
What are your go to recipes for parties? I’d love to hear them!
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
