Food Revival

I know, I know. It's been a while. Between my new job and training for a 5K, I've been a little overwhelmed. But don't you worry your little head because I've been cooking and documenting. Oh, and I'm sick. Like covered in blankets and coughing after every sentence kind of sick. With all of this time on my hands (something I'm not really equipped to deal with), I thought I might as well use this time wisely and update Food Revival. Let's talk food first.

A couple of weekends ago, I was watching Barefoot Contessa (SHOCKING, I know). She introduced me to a "Palmier." A palmi-who? That's right, a "palmier."

According to Wikipedia, a "palmier" is a Spanish or French puff pastry in a palm or butterfly shape. They are made from puff pastry and layered with either savory or sweet ingredients, rolled, sliced, and baked. As many of you can probably guess, I went the savory route and used Barefoot Contessa as my guide.

The process is sort of simple. Unfold a puff pastry sheet (Note to self: remember puff pastry is frozen. You need a couple of hours, so plan ahead). Roll out the pastry until it's about 9.5 x 11 inches. Brush your pastry dough with pesto (I had some leftover homemade pesto in the freezer). Then sprinkle with your favorite goat cheese (mine is always Belle Chevre). Then add some sundried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts. Easy enough, right?

Then do as Ina says: "Working from the short ends, fold each end halfway to the center. Then fold each side again towards the center until the folded edges almost touch. Fold one side over the other and press lightly." Cut off the ends and then slice the roll in 1/4 inch slices. I repeated the whole thing again with the other sheet of puff pastry and placed all of my slices on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. You can check out the full recipe here: Savory Palmiers.

To accompany my fancy palmiers, I created a Spinach Salad with fresh tangerine slices, Belle Chevre goat cheese, a little avocado, sprinkle of salt, and a light lemon vinaigrette. It was the perfect little bistro dinner during on an otherwise normal weeknight. Plus, now I can be a phone -a- friend should you ever need to answer a trivia question about Palmiers. Now, that's worth its weight in GOLD (or puff pastry for that matter).