Ham and Cheese Tart

 Ooey gooey with melted swiss and black forest ham wrapped in a flakey crust of puff pasty...perfect addition to a cheese board for wine and cheese night.

I do have one ingredient that is hard to find.  Sel Gris Aux Herbes.  Gray sea salt with herbs.  This coarse herbed sea salt adds a nice savory salty crunch to your flakey pastry that is hard to duplicate with any replacement.  Try ordering online M. Gilles Sel Gris Aux Herbes.  Its a great finishing salt on steaks, fish and poultry too, you'll thank me later if you do buy it.  

Ingredients

• 1 box (2 sheets) Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry sheets, thawed
• 8 0z black forest ham - deli sliced
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 5 slices swiss cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 T sesame seeds
• 1 t Sel Gris Aux Herbes

Assembly

Preheat oven to 425F

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Carefully unfold 1 sheet of pastry onto the lined baking sheet.  Using a pastry brush lightly spread the Dijon mustard on the pastry sheet leaving a 1/2 inch margin on the edges.  Layer the ham on the mustard maintaining the 1/2" margin.  Place the cheese on top of the ham using the one piece to trim to fit any gaps you have on top of the ham.  

In a small bowl add the egg and a tablespoon of water and beat to make an egg wash.  Using a new pastry brush, brush on a thin layer of the egg wash along the edges in the 1/2" margin. Place the remaining sheet of pastry on top of the layered ham and cheese.  Crimp edges with a fork.

Brush the entire top of the pastry with the egg wash.  Sprinkle on the sesame seeds and Sel Gris Aux Herbes.

Place in preheated oven and bake 20-25 minutes until rich golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes then cut into 9 squares.  (A long bladed serrated bread knife works best).  Place on cheese board and serve.

Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

 I could have sworn I posted this before, but I can't find it anywhere.  Pardon the duplicate if there is one out there that I missed.

This came about because my wife loves Cherry Pie and I love Cheese Danish.  I created this recipe in my head and did it years ago when we were in the apartment in Valley Village that had an oven barely big enough to fit a pie plate in.  It worked and has been on the list of fun brunch food for us for years.

It is stupid easy to make as I use bought puff pastry sheets instead of taking the day or so to make it from scratch.  (Did that once for bragging rights, but seriously the store bought stuff is pretty marvy).  The sheets are smaller than a pie plate so you do need to roll it out a bit and then use the roller to pull the corners out a bit more.

 The corners won't meet in the middle, but that's OK.  If you stretched the dough to meet there you'd have it too thin and it would burn before the cream cheese filling had set.

 Pick a good Cherry Pie filling.  I've gone through several brands before I found one that I liked.  I really like the Cherry Pie Filling from Fresh & Easy stores based here in suburban L.A.  They have stores in So Cal, AZ and NV...use the handy store locater HERE to find the one nearest you.  Of course you can always use your favorite brand and make the filling from scratch if you so desire.  Just trying to make it a bit easier for you to duplicate what I did.  I like this brand as its not too sweet and the cherry's also have a bit of a sour bite to them.

Lastly leave the cream cheese out over night so it is amply soft for mixing.  Not having it at room temp makes it nearly impossible to beat in the egg and have a light fluffy mixture.


Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

• 1 sheet puff pastry - thawed
• 1 8 oz pkg cream cheese - room temp
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/4 t almond extract
• 1 egg
• 1 can Cherry Pie filling

Preheat oven to 400F

Flour your pastry board well.  Lay down the sheet of puff pastry and gently roll until it will fit into your pie plate.  Give the corners an extra roll or two until they are an additional inch or so further out from the pastry.
Place in pie plate.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, almond extract and egg.  Beat until fluffy.  Pour into prepared puff pastry.

Carefully spoon pie filling over cream cheese mixture.  Pull corners of pastry up and over towards the center of the pie, they won't meet. See picture of the detail.   Bake 40-45 minutes until golden brown. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.  Can serve at room temperature as well.

Salmon en Croute...special stuff for special people

My neighbors are going through a major remodel and have been without a kitchen for nearly a month. We decided to treat them to a home cooked meal last night. Of course, as always I want to give my guests the best I can produce. A little wow factor is nice too.

Salmon en Croute..literally salmon in crust was the option I went for tonight. Its really simple, a little laborious but worth the results. Its actually pretty easy to do...wrap a par-cooked salmon portion in puff pastry much like one would wrap a Christmas gift using a little egg wash as glue to hold the seams together.

Presentation is everything and its the little things that elevate the wow factor of the final product. In this case not only did I glaze it with an egg wash, but I cut out little fish from the pastry scraps to make decorations for the top of the package to give a little visual interest as well as hint of what is inside.

When working with puff pastry dough one does need to keep it cool so you don't melt the butter separating the layers within the pastry. Working with one sheet at a time does help you keep from getting your dough to soft and ruining the layers. Simply put the sheet you don't need at the moment in the fridge to keep it cool while working with the other. Also, its very important that the dough be cool when put in the oven for maximum puff during baking so the resting period in the refrigerator is really important, but that's a good thing as it means you can have assembled in the afternoon before you even have to worry about your guests arriving. Do aheads are a good thing.

The puff pastry though loaded with butter can stick to a baking sheet. I use a silpat to prevent sticking and tearing of the salmon en Croute when removing it from the pan. If you don't have a silpat then do get yourself some parchment paper to put down on your baking sheet to prevent sticking. Nothing is worse than working hard to make a pretty looking dish only to have it ruined because of sticking. Easy fix.

Salmon en Croute

• 1 pkg Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry
• 4 4-6oz salmon fillets
• onion salt
• pepper
• whole grain mustard
• dill weed
• Sea salt
• 1 egg beaten

Trim salmon fillets into neat squared off edge pieces. Season both sides with onion salt and pepper. Add to microwave safe baking dish. Microwave on high for 4minutes. Let cool to room temp. Very important to cool to room temp as if its too warm it will melt the pastry and you will have a mess on your hands.

Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry. Cut in half. Take 1 salmon fillet. Sprinkle both sides with the dill weed to taste. On one side spread 1 t grainy mustard (I use grey poupon whole grain mustard) on one side of the salmon. Brush edges of puff pastry with egg wash. Place the fillet on a piece of puff pastry. Bring up one side and then the other, trimming off extra for making a surface decoration...like a fish maybe? Take the open ends of the puff pastry and fold as if gift wrapping on a package, pressing lightly to seal. Make decoration with scrap and attach with egg wash to top of bundle. Repeat with remaining dough portions and fillets.

Place bundles in fridge and let rest a minimum of 1 hour.

Place salmon packages on a silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush egg wash all over the bundles and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 425F for 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden brown all over.