Longford Leader recipes: Spectacular puff pastry cheesy spinach Christmas tree

Cook's notes: Remove the pastry from the fridge a couple of minutes before unrolling so it doesn’t tear. Use the cutaway pastry to make croissants.

Serves:4/6
Cook time: 25 minutes
Equipment needed: Frying pan, baking tray

Ingredients

• 2 x 375g chef select ready rolled puff pastry
• 125g Oakland’s baby leaf Spinach
• 100g cream cheese
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• Large handful parsley, finely chopped
• 25g parmesan, finely grated
• 100g deluxe caramelised onion chutney
• 150g valley spire grated mozzarella cheese
• 200g proscuitto
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

•  Preheat oven to 180°C/350°f/gas mark 4.
• Lay both sheets of pastry out onto a clean work surface, leaving them on their parchment. cutting from the Centre furthest away from you down to each bottom corner to create a triangle. Discard the excess pastry or use to make croissants or cheese straws. At the base of the pastry, leaving a ‘tree trunk’ of about an inch in the center of the pastry cut up an inch from the bottom and across to meet the centerpiece.
• Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over a low to medium heat. Add the spinach and toss until wilted. Remove from the pan and squeeze out any excess water in a clean j cloth or kitchen paper. Finely chop and add to a medium sized bowl,
• Add the cream cheese, garlic, parsley and parmesan to the spinach, season and then stir to evenly combine. Spread evenly across one piece of puff pastry followed by the chutney.
• Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese, lay across the proscuitto and then top with the other triangle of dough. Leaving about 1 inch piece in the centre as the ‘tree trunk’ cut slices from the middle to each edge about every inch down the triangle. Grab each “slice” and twist it to form a tree shape.
• Brush with the beaten egg place in the oven to bake for 25-30minutes until golden, risen and the pastry has cooked through.

Also read: Longford's Laura Thompson on how to stay healthy if you decide to go vegan