Food History

Sharyn Lilley of Eneit Press is also in memory mode because she’s preparing for a big country christening. When she offered to write it up for me I raced in with my ‘yes please’ before she could change her mind.

“In 1941, my Grandmother’s sister married, and celebrated afterwards at Strahan’s Rendezvous with an afternoon tea comprising:
Assorted Sandwiches
Mixed Savories
Cream Cakes
Trifle & Cream
Jellies & Cream
Fruit Salad & Cream
Dried Fruit
Sweets
Nuts
Tea and Coffee and Soft Drinks

Fairly standard fare for a Country Wedding in those days, although I look at the menu keepsake my Grandmother left to me, along with various other papers she’d collected over the years, and can’t help but wonder what sort of sweets you’d need after all those cream cakes, trifles and jellies!

Anzac weekend 2008, my husband and I will be having our three boys christened, I’m doing the catering, and decided to share the menu with Gillian’s readers. Again, it’ll be pretty standard fare … for a party at my place.

Today’s recipe is for the nibblies table, and is a savoury adaption of palmiers. Palmiers are variously known around the world as: palm leaves, elephant ears, pig’s ears, butterfly crisps and even kanapee (Finnish). The food dictionary at Epicurious has a definition of Palmiers here: http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry?id=3771

Honey Ham Palmiers
&
Cheese and Mustard Palmiers

1 packet (6 sheets) frozen puff pastry (just because it’s homemade, doesn’t mean you can’t cheat.)
¼ of a kilo of shaved, smoked ham
Pouring honey (make sure it’s clear and running easily, makes the job much easier.)
Seeded Mustard (I’ll be using tarragon mustard from Milawa Mustards, because that’s a favourite of mine)
2 cups grated tasty cheese.

Separate the frozen sheets of pastry, lay flat on a work surface and spread three of them with a thin layer of ham. Spread the remaining three with a thin layer of mustard. Drizzle the honey over the sheets of ham covered pastry, and sprinkle the cheese over the mustard.

By now the pastry will be fully thawed, so roll up each sheet of pastry in two rolls that meet in the middle. Cut into finger-width slices, lightly squash the double rolls together to get the palmier shape (vaguely heart shaped) and lay flat onto a baking tray lined with silicon baking paper. Bake for 10 minutes at 180 Degrees C, or until golden and crisp.

One of the beauties of this particular recipe is it can be prepared ahead, and put into the freezer, layering with baking paper for ease of separation when needed, and just baked on the day.”