I love it when I have a fully-stocked refrigerator (sadly rare) and nothing planned for dinner (much less rare): I get all inspired to poke around and come up with some fun new combinations. Last night, I was still craving Sunday’s Pear & Cream Cheese Turnovers, so I thought I’d find a savory way to use my leftover pears and remaining squares of puff pastry. Other things that I found in my refrigerator, fortunately, included chicken, mushrooms, spinach, goat cheese, a small onion, and a lemon.
Presto: SAVORY CHICKEN, GOAT CHEESE & PEAR TURNOVERS (with mushrooms, onions & spinach)
Make it make it make it.
What you need (serves 2):
1 large chicken breast
A defrosted sheet of puff pastry cut into quarters (you’ll only need two of those quarters if you’re cooking for two, but obviously just double all the other ingredients if you’d like to use the whole sheet and make dinner for four…or have leftovers)
1 small pear, peeled and thinly sliced
A small handful of baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup diced mushrooms
1/2 a small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp goat cheese
About 1/4 cup flour
1 egg
Salt & pepper
What you do:
1. First, grill your chicken breast (I used my George Forman) with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper (maybe also a little lemon juice and garlic powder). Once the chicken is cooked, shred it and put it into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Add the pear, spinach leaves, diced mushrooms, and lemon juice to the bowl. Season with a little salt & pepper, and toss everything together.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each of your puff pastry squares until they’re around 7 or 8 inches square. Cut off any irregular edges to make a nice, even square (reserve the pieces you cut off in case you need to do a little patch job later on).
4. Spread 1 tbsp of goat cheese onto one side of each pastry square, and then top with half of the chicken/pear mixture.
5. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg with 1 tsp of water. Brush the edges of the pastry square with egg, and fold it in half so that the sides meet to form a triangle. You may need to fiddle around a bit with the amount or position of the filling so that it doesn’t spill out or break the skin of the pastry.
6. Press the edges of the pastry together with the tines of a fork. (If you need to patch up any spots, just use some of the dough you cut off earlier and brush a little egg over the spot.)
7. Brush a little more egg over the top of the pastry and set on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
And it totally tastes as good as it looks.
