A plain cheese sandwich can be very scrummy but sometimes, especially on free days or weekends, something a little more scrummier is required. Easy if you planned ahead, not so if you have been so focussed on a task that it is your tummy that tells you its lunchtime.
Inspiration came in the form of a tub of ricotta cheese and the sight of ready rolled but deeply frozen puff pastry. So, ingredients:-
- A hair dryer
- Pack of frozen ready rolled and neatly curled up puff pastry (perhaps I should have used hair straighteners?)
- 250 g Ricotta chees
- 160 g Responsibly sourced or line caught Tuna
- Red Peppers cut to your choice of size
- Beetroot, drained and cut as above
- Artichokes from an antipasti jar, draining off as much olive oil back into the jar.
- Mint leaves – in the absence of any Basil
It takes 2 hours to defrost ready rolled pastry so this is an emergency! ( Albeit a first world one)
Step 1 Plug in the Hairdryer and using the medium setting (we do not want hot pastry) gently blow along the leading edge of the rolled up pastry – ready rolled in every sense – for a couple of minutes and then leave to one side in the sunshine of the window sill.
Step 2 Mix the ricotta and tuna in a bowl. Do not do what I did and add the chopped artichokes at this point.
Step 3 Repeat Step 1 and this time gently tease the pastry open a little by running your finger along the leading edge. Do not hurry or the pastry will snap.
Step 4 Prepare the Red Peppers, Beetroot, Artichokes and Mint
Step 5 Repeat Step 1 and remember not to snap the still mostly frozen pastry
Step 6 Eat something to stop your tummy rumbling and turn the oven on to 180 ° for a fan oven
Step 7 Finally ease the now defrosted puff pastry sheet onto a slightly oiled baking tray. Using a sharp knife score a 2cm margin within the pastry. This allows the border to rise forming a lovely crunchy edge.
Step 8 Spoon the tuna and ricotta mix into the inner rectangle and top with the prepared vegetables – keeping the Mint or Basil to one side for garnish.
Step 9 Place in the pre-heated fan oven for approximately 22 minutes depending on your machine.
Step 10 Leave to cool for a few moments and then garnish with herb leaves before serving with a fresh salad
Cooks Notes.
This is a great recipe to experiment with. Trial 1 was ok. Next time there will be more and larger pieces of vegetables so they retain their crunch and balance the richness of the cheese.
An alternative version is to plan ahead and use defrosted puff pastry. Score the border as above and spread pesto over the inner rectangle, cut lots of cherry tomatoes in half and place cut side up on the pesto, top with your favourite cheese or better still a mixture of cheeses and bake as above. Great hot or cold.
Environmentally Friendly?
All was great until checking the cooking times for the pastry. Yikes! this pastry contained Palm Oil. Come on guys, it is not necessary to deforest the planet, defrost the polar regions and rob cute little baby Orang-utans of their historic home.
If you need oil for your manufacturing process consider using oil made from Algae. It grows in sunlight, consumes the greenhouse gas CO2, , does not require pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and it’s core ingredient is essentially free.
Let’s make convenience food thoughtfully and sustainably so we can all enjoy it with a clean conscious
And some pictorial evidence
There are some cooks who would use a ruler to score the line forming the border. Free hand gives a more organic result
Using a fork to spread the mixture gives a more textured finish
Thin slices cook quickly. Larger cuts help retain the crunchiness and flavour of peppers
Et Voila! Trial 1 – the first result. Tastes Great with a fresh salad
Claudia Bow 