Knowing how little my dad cares for innovation in food (what he calls “chuminás” — fancy nonsense), whenever we put together appetizers for birthdays or special celebrations we always have to play the card of foods he considers “essentials”. So for my last birthday we went looking for appetizers he might actually like, and over at Directo al Paladar we found this one.
What do we need?
1 sheet of refrigerated puff pastry100 grams (3.5 oz) of serrano hamOregano1 egg
How do we make it?
Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).
Cut the puff pastry sheet into strips roughly 1.5 cm (0.6 in) wide and 10 cm (4 in) long.
Brush them with beaten egg so they brown nicely in the oven, sprinkle oregano on top, and flip them over.
Cut the ham into strips the same length as the pastry and lay them on top.
Twist the sticks with the ham one by one. To do this, grab each strip by the ends and turn in opposite directions. Pop them in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Tips:
- Every oven is its own beast, so temperature and time may vary. We recommend keeping a close eye on them, especially at the start, so the heat stays high but the pastry doesn’t get scorched.
- The first time we made these we threw in two new versions: some with just oregano, and others with aged cheese. They were all delicious. That said, the serrano ham ones don’t need it, but for the others add a pinch of salt and you’ll see how much better they get.
