What’s the best way to ring in the (secular) New Year? With spiced meat wrapped in puff pastry of course!
Last year my husband and I planned to have a real New Year’s Eve out in NYC – which was probably a little overambitious for a 6 month pregnant meatball like myself. And so at the last minute I came to my senses and decided staying in with some close friends, food and wine was a wiser option. I hadn’t planned to cook anything so didn’t have too many ingredients on hand. I did, however, have some ground beef and puff pastry in the freezer and so – voila! Puff pastry meat knishes were born.
Everything tastes better wrapped in puff pastry, so throw some of these together as part of your party spread, or to nosh on before you head out on the town.
Happy 2013!
Ingredients
2 sheets puff pastry (1 box), thawed at room temperature
2 large yukon gold potatoes or 1 large russet (Idaho) potato
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 lb ground beef
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, or 1/2 large onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 egg
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Remove puff pastry from freezer and let sit on counter for 20-30 minutes until it has softened a bit and can easily be unfolded.
Peel potatoes. Boil potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain water and mash potatoes using a masher, ricer or heavy fork. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and 2 tsp olive oil to potatoes and mix.
In a large saute pan, heat olive oil. Saute onions and garlic until translucent. Add cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Add meat and brown until cooked through.
Drain excess oil and liquid from meat.
Lightly roll out puff pastry with rolling pin. Cut each puff pastry sheet into 6 squares.
On each square add approximately 1-2 tsp of potato and 1-2 tsp of meat mixture. Fold each corner of the puff pastry square up until they touch. Pinch and twist tips down to form the knish.
Brush with lightly beaten egg. Bake until golden brown, around 25-30 minutes.
Serve with spicy brown mustard.
