Puff pastry pinwheels with tomato, oregano and parmesan

Every so often I prepare food for parties: a selection of canapes, mini frittata, vegetables on a stick, ham and melon, prosciutto wrapped on breadsticks, salami nibbles… and so on. In the summer, when it is hot I usually prepare lots of fruit kebabs which can be dipped in chocolate, these have always proven to be very popular. On my wedding last July I prepared (with the help of relatives) a mini buffet for my guests to have with chilled prosecco before heading to the register office. This is how we do it in Italy.

Creating party nibbles is one of the things I enjoy most, you can be so creative and, although I am not denying it, it is quite hard work, it is also incredibly rewarding.

One the best ways to create delicious nibbles is to use puff or filo pastry. Puff pastry is extremely versatile as you can create many different things with it: from mini pizzas (extremely popular with children and adults alike), to  prawns wrapped in pastry, vegetable tarts to share and so on.

You can try these pinwheels which I have made with tomato, parmesan, oregano and olives and you can also make them sweet by filling them with jam instead of tomato.

They look pretty and they taste great. Choose “all butter” puff pastry if you can find it and they will taste even better.

• Prep Time : 25 minutes
• Cook Time : 12 minutes

Ingredients

• puff pastry – 1 sheet
• tomato sauce – 4 tbsp
• grated Parmesan cheese – 2 tbsp
• salt – pinch
• dried oregano – 1 tsp
• pitted olives – 3
• olive oil – 1 tbsp

Instructions

Slice the pitted olives into rings.

On a plate mix together the tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, oregano, salt and olive oil.

Unfold the puff pastry sheet and dust both sides with flour. Cut the puff pastry into even squares.

With a sharp knife cut diagonal lines from the corners of the pastry. Put a scant tbsp of filling in the center of each square.

Fold every other corner up over the filling to the center, overlapping the points. Pinch to seal well and place an olive ring on it.

Place the pinwheels onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 200C or 400F for 12 minutes or until puffed and golden. Leave to stand for 5 to 8 minutes before serving.

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