how to make cheese straws with parmesan and rosemary and other easy puff pastry snacks

This post has been in the making for a while and since I started bashing out a few snacks using the incredible new all butter puff pastry from Woolies in December. A friend of mine had given me a few packs to try. I understand it to be the only puff pastry available in the country made entirely from butter, and this can only be a good thing in my humble opinion.

Anyway I decided to take the flavour of a basic cheese straw a notch. I like a basic one, but I felt with all this fluffy and puffy pastry it needed a more robust filling to make it stand out. I decided to use Parmesan, Dijon mustard and finely chopped rosemary. I also added a sprinkle of sea salt because these are lovely savoury nibbles which are perfect served with drinks.

They really are so easy to make. Follow the pack instructions on how to thaw the puff pastry (this is important), and working as quickly as possible so that the pastry doesn’t warm up too much, do the following:

1. Pre heat he oven to 180C and line a large baking sheet with silicone or baking paper.
2. Lay the sheet of pastry out and spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard evenly over one half.
3. Finely chop rosemary (a few stalks) and scatter this evenly over the mustard.
4. Grate Parmesan cheese (just under half a cup) and sprinkle this on top of the rosemary and Dijon (a light sprinkle of sea salt is entirely optional here).
5. Fold the pastry over the filling and using a rolling pin gently roll over it so as to ‘glue’ the top and bottom and filling together.
6. Brush the surface of the pastry rectangle with a lightly beaten egg.
7. Cut the pastry into thinnish strips ( I find using a pizza cutter best for this).
8. Twist the strips twice and place them on a baking tray allowing a little space in between as the pastry expands during baking.
9. Bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
10. Allow to cool before serving.

Another easy thing to make with puff pastry are pesto parmiers. Simply spread a layer of pesto evenly over a sheet of puff pastry, roll opposite ends up so that they meet in the middle, slice into discs and bake at 180 C until golden.

I also made a quick and easy ‘pizza’ tart in my Big Green Egg and when I was making my aubergine ‘pizza’s‘. Simply place a sheet of pastry on a baking tray and score an indentation with a knife, about 1 cm in from the edge. Spread tomato sauce or tomato passata lightly over the  middle square, top with fresh tomato and m mozzarella cheese and bake for 20 minutes. You can of courses add whatever toppings you like. I served this basic cheese and tomato tart with fresh basil leaves and it was delicious.

And while I was at it, I knocked out a few quick jam turnovers with puff pastry which I had cut into rounds using a cookie cutter. I filled them with small dollop of pear and Pinotage preserve / jam I had lying around in my fridge. I brushed egg wash around the edge of the rounds, folded them over and pinched down on the rim to seal the pastry. A light dusting of icing sugar over the little babies made an instant sweet tea treat. Any jam would work here.

 I look forward to connecting with you again