Good Stuff in Puff

There are a few things in life that are just delicious no matter what, fried potatoes, sweet roasted carrots, caramelized onions and puff pastry.  So it stands to reason that if you put them all together the end result will be delicious. I had to put the theory to the test.

So I peeled and chopped an onion, a large potato and a couple of carrots into a large dice.  Then I sliced some fat pieces from a Chorizo sausage and diced those,too.

I put a tablespoon of oil into a large skillet and sauteed the Chorizo until the spicy fat rendered out and coloured the oil in the pan a bright red.   I removed the Chorizo from the pan and set it to one side.  I sauteed the vegetables in the Chorizo fat and seasoned them with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs.  When the vegetables had softened, I removed them from the heat to cool slightly.

 

Then it was time to roll out the puff pastry.  I love almost anything cooked in puff pastry and you don't even have to make it.  I buy ready made all butter puff pastry from the grocery store and it is delicious.  Even the top chefs say they use the ready made stuff so why shouldn't we?  I cut the block of pastry into four equal pieces and rolled them out between two bits of plastic wrap.  

All this typing in past tense is confusing so I am going to change tenses in midstream, mix my metaphors and tell you how to construct pastry parcels.

Place a bit of the vegetables and fried Chorizo on one half of the rolled out pastry.  Top with another slice or two of Chorizo.  Brush the outer edge of the pastry with a bit of beaten egg and fold it over the filling to make a little parcel.  

Using the back of a fork, press all around the edge of the parcel to seal the pastry shut.  We don't want any of the filling to ooze out!  Brush the tops of the pastry parcels with the beaten egg.  Bake in a hot preheated oven (400F/220C) for about 25-30 minutes.  You want the pastry to be golden brown and the filling to be steaming hot!  

And when they are done they look like this!  So, did the theory work?  Let's just say Andy ate two for lunch.  Some things are delicious no matter what but puff pastry makes them taste even better!