A Lunchtime Puff Pastry Treat

After a long absence (Please Don't Kiss The Cook has been hitting up London!), we're back with a quick but nevertheless wonderful lunch-or-snack-time treat based on puff pastry, which, although a devil to make, is the easiest thing in the world to buy at your local supermarket and doesn't suffer too much from the 'non-homemade' stigma.

This recipe is not only delicious, but benefits from a great deal of flexibility - you can change it up from day to day, making it a fantastic way to keep your lunchtimes varied. The method below is the version I made recently, but I'll give you a few ideas for variations as well.

Ingredients

A dusting of flour
Puff pastry - about a quarter of a standard 'Jusroll' pack
Tomato puree - about a teaspoonful
A red onion, finely sliced
One garlic clove, crushed
A small, ripe tomato, sliced
About 25-50g of the cheese of your choice (I used Taleggio, which may smell like feet but tastes delicious)
A tiny bit of butter or egg wash
Basil to finish (optional, and not with the Taleggio I think)


Method

Preheat your oven to 200 C. Dusting the table and your hands with flour first, roll or press out the puff pastry to about half a centimetre thick, or until it's around 20cm long and 10 thick. Make sure you keep it reasonably well-floured or it'll stick. You can also buy it ready-rolled if you like. At the same time, sweat the onions and garlic in a small frying pan and allow them to begin to turn golden at the edges.

Now lay your pastry flat and cover with the tomato puree, leaving an edge of at least one centimetre all around. Top with the onion, tomato, and cheese. Wash the pastry edges with a little melted butter or egg. Bake for 10-15 minutes in a hot oven until the pastry has risen and turned golden brown, and the cheese is bubbling. Finish with chopped basil if using. Delicious hot or cold, and lovely with a salad.


Some Variations

You can see how easy the basic method here would be to vary - it's sort of a high-class pizza, and enjoys the same breadth of variation. Just don't insult it with plain tomato puree and cheddar cheese. It's worth more.

Here are a couple of ideas:

Goat's cheese: Cut out the tomato and tomato puree, and use caramelised onions instead of plain red onion. Replace the taleggio with goat's cheese. Top with a little chopped thyme, and serve with a cherry tomato salad.

A fresher option: Leave the tomato and half of the cheese out of the basic recipe (use cheddar or similar, not blue cheese here), and top the finished tartlet with fresh ripe tomatoes, chopped and tossed with torn basil, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and a sprinkling of torn-up fresh mozzarella.

Salad-on-a-pastry-plate: Use olive oil, rosemary and crushed garlic instead of the puree, and leave out the rest. Bake like this, then top with lightly dressed rocket salad, cherry tomatos, slices of cured beef (bresaola), and shavings of really good quality grana padano.

Meatier Munch:  Sprinkle with some crispy-fried pancetta or some thin slices of cooked chicken before topping with the cheese and baking.

Experimenting with herbs: It's definitely not just basil you can involve here. Some chopped parsley rarely goes amiss for a garnish, a bit of tarragon would be lovely with the tomatoes (you could even sprinkle a tiny bit of tarragon vinegar on before the cheese), thyme or rosemary are both an option. Go wild.

Puddin': Why not? Puff pastry is just as much a dessert as a savoury taste. Try strawberries, honey and a dash of lemon juice to bake, with a dollop of creme fraiche to finish. Or, even naughtier, some very good quality dark chocolate and a generous sprinkling of chopped nuts. Eat sparingly!


So there you are, food fans. Fun with puff pastry. Incidentally, smaller versions of this recipe can make a nice canape idea, as the pastry base makes them easy to grab with a drink in the other hand. Just be sure to make them bitesize!