Puff, was the name of a magic dragon, "who lived by the sea" (for those of us old enough to remember the song by Peter, Paul and Mary) but it is also the title of a new cookbook by Martha Holmberg, food editor for The Oregonian newspaper. All 50 recipes in this book, from appetizers and entrées to desserts are made with puff pastry (a buttery-rich, multilayered pastry).
I was asked to bring an appetizer to a friend’s home last night and decided to find one in my new cookbook using ham, so that I could use up some of the leftovers from our Easter dinner. I chose a recipe titled, Ham Biscuits with Honey-Mustard Crème Fraîche. Instead of making my own puff pastry, I bought premade frozen puff pastry from the supermarket.
The recipe states to cut 42 (1 ½-inch) rounds from one sheet of dough. I thought they would be way too small because the dough shrinks when it is baked and so I used a 2 ½-inch round cutter. The first batch I made burnt when I baked them in my new oven at 400°F for 18 minutes as stated on the recipe. I turned the oven down to 375°F. and the second batch baked to a nice golden brown. I stored them overnight, in a plastic container with a loose-fitting lid.
When I got home from work last night, I mixed up the spread made with a mixture of crème fraîche, whole-grain mustard, honey fresh lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt and cayenne pepper. This mixture tasted rather bland and so I stirred some honey mustard into it which gave it the tang I wanted. In fact, I’d suggest using honey mustard without anything added to it, to save time.
Jack sliced the biscuits in half.
Then we were ready to fill them, first with some of the mustard mixture and then with ham. Here they are, ready to serve.
When I tried to eat one, the biscuit was so tender and flaky that it crumbled all over the table. And that’s how I learned why (as my friend Kevin suggested) they are cut into such tiny circles—so you can pop them into your mouth in one bite. Messy to eat or not, they tasted great.
Ham Biscuits with Honey-Mustard Crème Fraîche
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
½ cup crème fraîche
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
5 ounces ham, cut very thinly or shaved
1. Heat oven to 400°F. On a lightly floured counter, roll pastry into 11-inch square. With 1 ½-inch pastry cutter, stamp out about 42 rounds. Arrange rounds on baking sheet and bake until puffed and golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool until ready to serve.
2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix crème fraîche, with mustard, honey, lemon juice, Worcestershire, salt, and cayenne. Chill until ready to use.
3. To assemble biscuits, split each pastry in half, spoon or pipe a dollop of the honey-mustard crème fraîche on the base, arrange some ham on the crème, and put on top.
Yield: Depends on the size of the circles you cut. If you cout them into 1 1/2-inch circles, you will get 42, according to the recipe.