Sophie Hansen shares a party-perfect recipe for puff pastry bites with salmon rillettes.
These are so delicious and always such a crowd pleaser. They’re good with a glass of chilled sparkling or chardonnay at a drinks party, and especially good to have ready made, stashed in the freezer for exactly these moments.
I promise, whipping up a batch of these golden, delicious bites and popping a bottle of something fizzy will get any party going in the right direction.
And while they're (more than) good enough just on their own, why not gild the lily and serve with a dollop of easy salmon rillettes?
Sophie xx
Makes about 20
Prep time: 20 minutes, plus chilling
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
For the egg wash
To serve
Roll the pastry onto a work surface and, using a ravioli cutter or sharp knife, cut into squares about 5 cm each. I’m a bit slapdash about this and do it by eye, but you could get a ruler out if you’d prefer to be more precise.
Onto every second square, place about half a teaspoon of the goat’s cheese and top with alternating pickles (jalapeños and onions). Press a “lid” of pastry on top and press the edges to make a seal all the way around. Continue until you have used all of the pastry squares. One sheet of pastry should make about 22 in total.
At this point you could freeze the squares until needed or chill for a few hours or overnight.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 200°C (fan forced) and line two baking trays with baking paper. Arrange your puff pastry bites on the trays.
Whisk the egg and cream together to make an egg wash and brush over each bite. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and a little sea salt.
Cook for 10-15 minutes or until golden and puffed. Don’t worry if some of the “lids” puff right off, just place back on top and gently press down. Cooking time will be longer if your bites are coming straight out of the freezer.
Leave to cool for a few minutes then spoon a good dollop of the salmon rillettes on top of each bite, arrange on a tray and serve with lemon wedges.
Serves 6-8
Prep time: 20 minutes, plus chilling
Cook time: 10 minutes
I LOVE this recipe. It’s gorgeous atop these little puff bites but you could also make more of a meal of it by cutting the puff into rectangles about 7 x 14 cm and serving the rillettes on these with a bed of rocket or similar. You can make the rillettes a day or two in advance and have ready when needed.
Gently combine all ingredients in a bowl and season to taste. Cover and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Some kitchen shortcuts are really worth taking. Good all-butter pastry is one of them. But the only brand that does it properly in Australia is Carême Pastry.
When I make pastry at home, I only use butter. So does Carême. All their pastries are preservative free and made with proper butter, not vegetable or palm oils which you see in lots of pastries in the frozen section of the supermarkets.
If this sounds like an ad, well, it is! I approached Carême to see if they’d come on as an advertising partner with Galah because I love their products so much. They are a family-run business based in the Barossa Valley – 100 per cent Australian made and owned – making high-quality, delicious pastry sheets that taste as if I had made them myself. I want to sing their praises.
If you’re wondering where you can find Carême pastries, just head to their website. Click on “home cook” then “where to buy”. You enter your postcode and it tells you the closest stockists.
Thank you to Carême for being a partner with Galah.
