August 24, 2011

Asparagus and Parmesan Cream Pastry

I LOVE asparagus. I could eat asparagus and melted cheese all day. So when I found a recipe for Asparagus and Parmesan Cream Pastries, I knew I had to make it for dinner. The recipe is very easy to make, and it's great for a light dinner.


You start by mixing together the cream cheese spread. This consists of grated Parmesan, chopped basil leaves, lemon juice, and of course cream cheese. This spread is SO delicious when paired with the asparagus. It's creamy, light, and the freshness of the basil and light taste of the lemon juice made it a perfect match!

While the dough is thawing, wash and cut the asparagus to fit the size of the pastry sheets. The asparagus should be a little shorter than the sheet, and have room on all four sides to the dough and puff up around it.


The recipe says to cut the dough into four equal rectangles, but my pastry sheet came folded into three rectangles, so I decided to rip them apart and just use them like that. Once you have the rectangles of dough ready, spread the cream cheese mixture over the top, and place four asparagus spears into the mixture, making sure to alternate directions! Sprinkle the tops with sea salt and drizzle with olive oil.



It only takes about 18-22 minutes to bake these, so once they turn a nice crispy golden brown, go ahead and take them out of the oven. Once they cool for a few minutes, transfer them to a cutting board and cut them in half the short way so you end up with 6 squares.


This was a great dinner, and very easy to make! They are a little rich, but we all ended up eating two pieces each. The only thing I would change for next time is that I would cut the asparagus every inch or so, then lay it all out in a line like the asparagus would appear normally. This is because when we would bite into the square, one whole asparagus spear would come off! And although the dough was nice and flaky, I ended up brushing off some of the bottom, as it was a lot to eat!


If you love asparagus, try this out and tell me how it goes! Enjoy, my fellow bakers!

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