packed puff pastries



My graduate program had a welcome back rooftop party so I decided to make these. I kinda made it up in my head as I went along so there's nothing really exact.

Here's a recipe:



2 packages Dufour puff pastry
1 1/2 pound package of meatloaf meat (that has a 1/2 pound each of  ground veal, beef and pork) or just buy them separately
1/2 pound ground lamb
a handful of fresh tarragon leaves chopped
a large handful of fresh oregano chopped
a bunch of fresh flat parsley chopped
8 cloves garlic chopped into small pieces(or to taste)
1/2 vidalia onion minced fine
fresh cracked pepper to taste
a pinch of cumin seeds ground up in a mortar and pestle (I ran out of powder)
a dash of ancho chili powder
a dash or three of Penzy's Arizona Dreaming spice mix
5 dashes of Hungarian sweet paprika
a dash of cayenne pepper
a couple dashes of Worchestershire sauce
a couple dashes of soy sauce
a dash of sweet balsamic vinegar
a teaspoon of chicken soup base (better than bouillon)
1/2 a small package of feta cheese
6 oz parmigiano reggiano
1/2 pound blue or gorgonzola
butter
2 egg yolks mixed with water for an egg wash



the puff pastry:

You can leave it out at room temperature for 40 minutes, or do like the package suggests and defrost in the fridge for 3 hours. My fridge did not really completely defrost it in more than 3 hours, but if you press your hand against the dough to warm it wherever it needs it will roll out fine.



the filling:

I started out by using some bacon ends I had to render oil for the onions and garlic to caramelize. You can use olive oil or nothing and just add them along with the meat. Once that was done I added the meat and cooked till browned and the juices were almost absorbed.

I drained the meat and put it back in the pan with a pat of butter to replace any oil lost, but not risk the puffs coming out soggy from too much liquid.

I added the freshly chopped tarragon leaves and oregano to the pan. Then I added the other seasonings. This was mainly trial and error, I didn't know what sort of flavor I was going for yet so I kept adding things till I liked the taste.

Once everything was cooked through I chopped up the fresh parsley and added it to the mix. Then I added the Parmesan cheese.

I let this sit on the stove for a while then popped it into my fridge in a container to cool more after adding half the package of Greek feta.

Once the mixture was cool enough I crumbled the blue cheese in and added it to the rest.

You will have half of this mixture left over and can use it on pasta or in more puffs later!



putting it together:

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F

Lay the pastry out on a floured board and roll out the rectangle to a 12x12 square. Cut 16 ~3 inch squares out of the sheet with a pizza cutter.

spoon a teaspoon full of filling into the center of each square.

moisten the edges of each square with egg wash and fold over. You can make triangles or rectangles. FYI rectangles are easier when you're tired of folding pastry.

Crimp the edges with a fork or if you're fancy, crimp them in a nicer way.  My crimping attempts tend to look like a dog got a hold of the edges and shredded them with its teeth so I still use a fork.

Place the puffs on parchment paper on a cookie sheet or in a roasting pan. You can pretty much use whatever you have handy.

Brush the egg wash on top of each.

Bake in the oven for 25-40 minutes or until the tops are browned and the pastries are puffed out plumply.

Repeat with the other package of pastry.

This will make 32 puffs.

new ivoire restaurant

Lots of things have been happening in mumblepurr-land. Some are good and some are bad, but in a few months I think it'll all work out.

I've slacked on posting images here and I'm about to remedy that with this mini post.

I read reviews for this restaurant on yelp and had to try it.

I got the Riz Gras which is browned rice with lamb


I also got the Poisson Grille - fried fish with a super generous side of sweet plantain.  This thing was ginormous and delicious. Excuse the fuzzy picture I got really hungry and impatient.


I think I'll go back today after I pick up my transcripts from college.

gramercy tavern & how I almost got sick before the meal started

So I love bread and I love butter, right?

Gramercy Tavern has awesome bread while you wait, right?

Well we went there for our anniversary on the 18th and I lovingly slathered soft butter all over a piece of bread. I sprinkled a pinch of sea salt they provided and then I began to devour this piece.

Moments later I had that feeling.

Y'know, the feeling you get when you're allergic to something and you get nauseated?

The feeling of saliva rushing from the depths of your mouth to flush it clean of the offending item. The feeling I hadn't had since I ate a raw almond offered at a Hindu temple in high school.... yeah that one.  It hit me full force and nothing on the table could cure me of the feeling.

And I still don't know what it was. I refused to experiment lest I get sick and not be able to eat anything.

After I ran to the bathroom to rinse my mouth out with water I felt much better.

Now onto the food.

For starters I had the special which was lamb with corn, roasted baby peppers and these cute little tomatoes I forgot the name of.


He had the paparadelle with lamb ragout which looked mouthwatering, but he said had too much swiss chard. I ate what he didn't.


For the main course he had the hanger steak with fingerling potatoes, red Russian kale and bourbon sauce.


Lots of kale, not too many potatoes. I ate the kale since he's not as fond of it as he thought.

Now onto my main course... you're going to frown at me when you find out what I ordered because I let out a deep sigh once I saw it in front of me.

I got... the meatball.


It's just one huge meatball and I think I might have enjoyed the ones I got at the meatball place on the LES better.

The potatoes were the best part.

I made up for it with dessert.

He got the chocolate pudding with salted caramel brioche croûtons.


I got the apricot bread pudding with sour cream ice cream and caramelized white chocolate. I also got one of the croûtons as garnish cause he's cute.


I wasn't too enamored of the ice cream but the pudding and caramelized white chocolate combined with it to make something amazing happen in my mouth. It almost completely erased the memory of my nausea earlier.... until I crunched down on one too many hazelnuts.