Eggplant & Chorizo Puff Pastry
Growing up I was lucky enough to always have a garden filled with endless veggies, herbs, peppers; you name it, and my mom was growing it. One of the things I loved most was the smell…. the bushes of rosemary that trailed the house were so fragrant, you simply brush your hand along one of them and the smell would last all day – I loved that. I was pretty independent as far as grocery shopping went, my mom would give me her credit card and I would run down the street and buy what I wanted to make for dinner. One of the funnest recipes I remember making with my mom was pizza – we would buy the dough (Pillsbury back in the day), then go out to her garden and cut off some rosemary sprigs. We would dice them up really small and just mash them into the crust and I can’t even explain how amazing it tasted. My other favorite part – the pizza was always done within 15-20 minutes (usually I didn’t get around to adding the pepperoni though, because I had already eaten it all out of the package… whoops).
I love those recipes that take you virtually no time to make but still taste so good you can’t stop eating. This eggplant, chorizo, and tomato puff pastry is just that, and such a nice change from ordinary pizza. If you follow my blog regularly, you know I am obsessed with eggplant, so you probably aren’t surprised I am cooking with it again this week :). The nice part about this recipe is you can really replace the vegetable with anything you want, or even add on some others – zucchini, squash, peppers, or whatever else you want! I usually add in whatever I have growing in my garden,
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
- 2 tomatoes, sliced into thin pieces lengthwise
- about 12 slices of chorizo
- 8 oz. goat cheese, or fresh mozzarella
- a few tbsp. olive oil
- 1 package puff pastry
- salt, to taste
- Optional - fresh rosemary and thyme, a couple sprigs of each
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice eggplant and tomatoes, and set aside. Lay eggplant out on a sheet of parchment paper, sprinkle salt on top, let the eggplant sweat out a bit of water, and then pat with a paper towel after about 20 minutes. In a saute pan, heat about 2 tbsp. of olive oil and pan sear the eggplant on both sides until there is a nice golden brown color, then set aside to cool.
- Drizzle olive oil onto parchment paper. Slice puff pastry into tart size shapes, either circle or square,and lay out on the parchment paper. Brush the tops of the pastry with olive oil and then place about 2 oz. goat cheese in the center of each. (Option - I like to sprinkle the puff pastry with a little fresh thyme and rosemary before I place veggies on top). Layer tomato slices, chorizo, and eggplant around the edge, until it forms a nice ring (you can use any vegetables here you want really). Drizzle again with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt.
- Place the tarts in the oven for about 20 minutes, until they turns golden and crispy. Serve!!
Looks like you did it again!!! Sounds amazing!!
Yum, looks amazing as usual….
Love the way it’s set up to, the spiral of veggies over the puff pastry is a eye catching way of presenting the dish…..
Mmm-mm delish….
Such a beautiful presentation and I’m always on board when puff pastry is involved
Beautiful presentation! You don’t really know what a tomato tastes like until you eat it from your own garden! I only have herbs right now, but one day I’ll have a full crop 🙂
This sounds so fresh and delicious, especially with the fresh herbs, yum!
Awwww, come over and let’s make some! I have some lovely peppers right now that won’t last. (Sadly, people steal out of my little garden on a regular basis – jerks. . .). Very nice presentation.
Delicious! You’ve put some fantastic flavors together.
Mmmmm!!! I love eggplant too and this looks delicious, pinning!
What a clever use of eggplants! I really like eggplants on a puff pastry.