Puff Pastry, Barefoot Style

In her new book, Back to Basics, Ina Garten frequently calls for puff pastry.  

I'll admit it.  I've always been afraid of puff pastry.  Maybe it's the admonitions to keep it cold, not to overwork it.  Maybe it reminds me too much of some of the sketchy pie doughs I've made. 

When I found puff pastry available through Amazon Fresh, I decided that this week I would conquer my fear.  Over the last two days, we've had three Barefoot Contessa puff pastry recipes.

Day 1:  Lamb Sausage in Puff Pastry & Apple Dried Cherry Turnovers

The pastry was delivered in the morning and I put it in the refrigerator.  By dinner time, the pastry was still semi-frozen.  This meant that instead of unfolding into one large piece, the pastry broke into three rectangular pieces.    The turnover recipe (from Back to Basics) suggested  cutting the large sheet into four square pieces and making each square into a turnover.  I tried to stick the three rectangular pieces together with minimal success.  Instead, I ended up cutting the rectangles in half, making some small turnovers and using some of the smaller squares to make sandwiches instead of turnovers.

The turnover filing is very reminiscent of the Apple Crisp filling from Barefoot Contessa Parties, but with cherries instead of lemons.  Here, as there, the filling is delicious.  The apples break down into gooey goodness and the cherries add a nice tang.  Overall, the recipe was a big hit with the family.

The sausage in puff pastry recipe (from Barefoot Contessa) was good, but not as well received.  The recipe called for a 1/2 inch thick sausage and the only one I could find was a chicken breakfast sausage.  This sausage was a little too bland and didn't add enough zing to the puff pastry.

On the positive side, this recipe was incredibly easy to make.  Even with the pastry rectangles, I just cooked the sausage, spread some mustard and rolled the pastry around the sausage.  There is a lot of room for improvisation here.  Different sausages, mustards, even cheese could add a lot.

Day 2:  Spinach in Puff Pastry

Having properly thawed my puff pastry, I felt ready to conquer the spinach in puff pastry recipe from Barefoot in Paris.  Truth be told, I'm not a French food fan and never really loved Barefoot in Paris.  That said, this recipe was delicious.  It involves a little more prep work: toasting pine nuts, sweating onions, grating cheese.  But, the effort pays off.  The flavorful spinach filling adds a nice contrast to the puff pastry.  When the pastry is thawed, it is much easier to unfold and roll.

Day 3:  Something Else

Today at dinner, Mr. S. looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Are we having puff pastry for dinner again tomorrow?"  There are more Barefoot Contessa puff pastry recipes I would like to try, but maybe we should take a break.

Some recipes I look forward to making:

Easy Sticky Buns (Back to Basics)

Tomato & Goat Cheese Tarts (Back to Basics)

Savory Palmiers (Back to Basics)

Cheese Straws (Barefoot in Paris)

Elephant Ears (Barefoot in Paris)