Tonight was the final event of the season for the North Shore Horticultural Society, the garden club I’ve been a member of for about 16 years. As is our custom, we have a Potluck Dinner at a beautiful seaside spot, Tuck’s Point, on the harbor of Manchester-by-the-Sea.
Sadly, the weather has not been cooperative for the past few years, though the day before was gorgeous. What can you do when you have to plan way in advance?
I enjoy cooking so I brought two dishes to share. I happened to have ripe bananas on hand, so I made a banana bread as a dessert. My recipe was given to me by my freshman year college roommate. I made a slight change by adding a teaspoon of baking powder (the original called for just a teaspoon of baking soda) to the recipe. It came out great, soft, warm and delicious with a little cinnamon-sugar on the top. Yummy!
The other dish that I made was a huge hit. And it’s a cinch to make. Unless you’re vegan, I strongly recommend this appetizer for your next cocktail party. Puff Pastry with Black Forest Ham and Gruyere.
I decided at the last minute to write about this, so I don’t have a lot of photos. But you’ll get the idea.
The recipe is based on a recipe from Ina Garten. I made a couple of tweaks. I find that Ina Garten’s recipes, especially those for entertaining, are just terrific.
Basically, you just assemble this appetizer from things you buy, and then pop it in the oven. It has just five ingredients. Easy peasy.
Here’s the recipe.
- 1 package of puff pastry with 2 pieces of puff pastry (Pepperidge Farm is the brand of choice)
- 1/4 lb. black forest ham, sliced (I like Boar’s Head best)
- 8 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded by hand
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- Thaw puff pastry in the refrigerator before using.
- Preheat the oven temperature to 400 degrees.
- Shred or grate the Gruyere cheese.
- Roll out the first piece of puff pastry to 10″ x 12″ (the piece itself is just short of these dimensions, so this is easy to do.) I have a piece of Silpat that is marked top, bottom and sides with rulers on it. Also, it is so easy to roll this out on Silpat. But if you don’t have a Silpat, just roll it out on a lightly floured board or countertop.
- Move the puff pastry to a cookie sheet.
- Spread 2 T. of Dijon mustard on the puff pastry, leaving a one inch border all around.
- Place the ham slices on top of the mustard, also leaving a one inch border all around.
- Place the shredded Gruyere on top of the ham, again leaving the border empty.
- Roll out the second piece of puff pastry to the same dimensions, 10″ x 12″, as the first piece. Place it on top of the cheese, ham, mustard, and puff pastry so that it fits. With a sharp knife, trim it so that it’s straight.
- Brush the top with the egg beaten with a little water to make the top glossy (I forgot to do it this time. Not a tragedy, but it looks prettier with the egg wash.)
- Make a few cuts in the top puff pastry to let the steam out.
- Place the cookie sheet with the puff pastry in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes till the pastry is puffed and golden.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for about 15 minutes before cutting.
I have served this appetizer at dinner parties, cocktail parties and tonight’s picnic.
Theoretically, it feeds 6, but it can definitely feed more than that along with other appetizers. Depending on the size of the crowd, I will cut it with a pizza cutter into a varied number of pieces. Tonight, I cut it into about 20 small rectangles. It can be a little messy with bits of crispy puff pastry flying around – so even though it is impressive-looking all puffed up, I would cut it in the kitchen, and bring it out already cut into slices.
As always, this puff pastry appetizer generates raves. Enjoy it!
It’s actually easy to veganize this. There is vegan ham, vegan cheese and egg replacer.
You are amazing, Kathryne. You really know your stuff! When I posted this, I was thinking that it would be a turnoff to vegans. Thank you for figuring out how to modify this recipe. It’s a really delicious appetizer 🙂
This is something I could get my husband to eat. He’s very iffy with ingredients and anything creamy is a no-no but ham, cheese and mustard would make him happy. Thanks for sharing.
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It’s such a great appetizer for a cocktail party or dinner party. Even picky eaters love it.
Thanks for sharing, this recipe sounds yummy and like something I would take for a potluck.
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Cindy, it is a perfect appetizer for a potluck or for hosting book club etc. It’s cinch to make, and it tastes fantastic! Hope you try it some day
Looks and sounds delicious.Boar’s Head is all we eat so I totally understand your choice. Thanks for the idea! I am going to give this a try.
I made it on Tuesday with a different brand of Black Forest ham, and though the appetizer still tasted delish, when I tried the ham on its own, Boar’s Head is so much better. Sadly, they didn’t have BH at the store I went to. I hope you’ll try this appetizer, Dana. It’s a cinch to make, and so very yummy!!
I looove puff pastry! I used to use it to make chicken pot pie.
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This actually sounds really delicious! I’d totally make this to have for dinner instead of as an appetizer.
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The puff pastry ham & cheese could be dinner with a salad!
I’m always looking for easy recipes like this when I’m entertaining and scrambling at the last minute. Thanks for sharing!!