Beef Cheddar Pastries for December SRC Recipe
It's time for the Secret Recipe Club reveal for December and then Group A takes a break.
Until February.
I think you know the spiel by now, I'm a member of the Secret Recipe Club, which is divided into four groups, A, B, C and D.
Each group takes a turn posting recipes on a Monday, Group A gets the first Monday of the month, Group B the second Monday and so forth.
Each member of each group is assigned a secret blog to make and post a recipe from. You keep it a secret until your "REVEAL DAY" and then you tell the world about which recipe you picked and why.
My problem is always picking just one recipe.
This month my assigned blog was Things I Make (for Dinner)
Turns out Sarah is also a fellow Canadian. I'm still Canadian even after all the years in the US. And she made my Butter Tart recipe a few months back as as her Secret Recipe Club pick. Which reminds me, I need to make some Butter Tarts soon, it's almost Christmas.
And she's got some great recipes on her blog. I wavered between a few, as usual. I wanted to make these crostini's cause there is just something about a nice crostini topping, but I'm saving that recipe for a Christmas party I'm attending in a week or so, and I think they'll go over well. Or if I can find a nice avocado, I may make these Avocado and Goat Cheese Crostini. Either way I'll let you know.
So what did I finally make? Well, I was going to make this soup, I thought I had all the ingredients in the pantry, but I didn't have any black beans so I was going to sub some pinto beans and then I managed to dump all the corn out onto the floor, so there went that idea. I'm going to make it soon, now that it has finally cooled down here.
But... We had some leftover roast beef from the other night and I got some lovely Swiss Chard in my organic veggie basket this week, and I thought I could use some of that in these Cheddar Beef Pastries. And I was right. Sarah did say these were freezer friendly as well. And if you know me, I made these appetizer size. I've got another potluck to attend in a couple of weeks, and I thought they would be perfect as little snack type appetizers, so I guess I'll be making them again. I only made a half recipe though, cause I had a single sheet of pastry in the freezer and my other packages were buried in the chest freezer, and I do mean buried.
BTW, they were delicious, even if the cheese escaped. sigh.
- Recipe: Beef Cheddar Pastries Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 2 cubes frozen Caramelized Onions or 1 small onion chopped.
- 2 stalks Red Chard, finely chopped ( I saved the tops for another day)
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1/4 c turkey broth (I had some from Turkey Day)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 oz cooked beef roast, diced small
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 pkg frozen puff pastry, defrosted
- 2 oz sliced Cojack cheddar cheese (I like the combo of Monterey Jack cheese and Colby)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp water
Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and place in the fridge overnight or on the counter for an hour to thaw. Chop up the vegetables and the meat, then in a skillet, melt the butter and add onion and carrot. Cook, stirring
occasionally, until soft. Then add the Chard, continuing to stir a little, just until softened. Add the garlic, sauteeing until
fragrant. If the onion starts to brown, add broth in small amounts to
continue to cook the carrots and chard. You want to keep moisture to a minimum.
Take off of the heat and add the chopped beef and stir, set aside to cool a little.
On a well floured pastry sheet, roll out puff pastry to a
9x15" rectangle. (Original instructions were to cut into 3 rectangles approx 9x15". On one half of
the pastry, place a slice of cheese. Top with 1/6 of the beef mixture,
leaving a border of pastry.) I cut the pastry into three strips and then cut each strip into fourths. I wanted to make a nice little hand pie, by putting a little of the filling into the middle of the square, then folding the opposite corner over the filling to make a triangle.
I brushed egg onto the edges of the pastry square before putting the filling into the middle. Then press together and seal the edges together with a fork. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet, (I used my reusable parchment sheet here)
Brush the egg glaze on top of the pastries and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until golden.
If you're going to freeze them, place on a parchment or wax paper covered baking sheet and freeze until firm and then place in a plastic bag.
I ate some and then froze the rest. I didn't need to eat them all at once, but I could have.
I'm going to be making these again, I think they're brilliant for taking to a potluck or ?