Anchovy and Black olive Palmiers
Simple but very attractive, this is a savoury version of the Spanish sweet treat. You can fill them with pretty much anything you like, Parma ham and Parmesan cheese works well. You can even use sesame or poppy seeds and use them as an accompaniment for cheeses.
Makes: 40-45 palmiers
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
1 pack Puff pastry, defrosted if frozen
4 Cloves garlic, crushed
10 Anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained and chopped
15 Pitted black olives, drained and chopped
1 tsp Thyme, chopped
freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180oC, lightly grease 4 baking trays, if you don’t have four you can cook the palmiers in batches.
2. In a pestle and mortar or in a bowl with the end of a rolling pin mash the anchovies, garlic, thyme and olives in to a smooth paste. Season with pepper but no salt the anchovies and olives are already quite salty.
3. Flour the work surface well and roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle roughly 30cm by 50 cm. Cut down the centre to give two 15 by 50 cm strips.
4. Spread half of the paste over each strip, covering as easily as possible. Mark the centre of the strip along the longest part with the blunt edge of a knife just mark does not cut, and then mark out the centre of each half. This will help with the folding. Fold the outside edges into the centre line so that they meet in the middle, and then fold in half again* .You should now have a long flat sausage, slice this into strips ½ cm wide. Place on a greased baking sheet, they will spread and open up into heart shapes, so be sure to leave enough space between them.
5. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and store in an air tight box. If stored correctly they can keep for up to a week, but they really are best within a few days.
* If you are preparing these to freeze, at this stage dust with flour and place in a freezer bag, will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you want to use them remove from the bag and defrost, then continue with slicing and cooking as above.
These savoury nibbles work well with any strongly flavoured filling. Try Parma ham and parmesan cheese or pesto and parmesan. If you’re in a hurry you could use a store brought tapnade try black olive or sun dried tomato. If you use poppy or sesame seeds you can use the palmiers as an accompaniment to your cheese board. You can also make sweet versions, with cinnamon and raisin or chocolate and hazelnut. Palmiers are just about the most versatile party nibble you can make.