Ham and Cheese Spinach Puffs

The running joke in our house is that when there is food on the counter that looks really good - its almost always intended for someone other than my family.  Sadly -- there's a lot of truth to it.  I spend a lot of time making the food that I sell to other people look pretty but I invest very little time making the meals for my family look presentable.  Pretty sure I will never work as a food stylist. 

Typically, I make one pretty plate which I affectionately call the "picture plate" and all the pictures that go on my website - typically come from that single plate.  It's become a nightly competition to see who will get the prized picture plate for dinner.

It's nights like last night that I'm thinking that feeding ordinary looking food to my family has worked to my advantage. 

I pulled a recipe off of Pinterest for the CUTEST ham and cheese puffs and lets just say - MY puffs were less than Pinterest worthy.  (Like most of my Pinterest recipes really --- tasty but not really picture worthy.)

But like I said earlier - my family isn't accustomed to pretty food - they just want delicious food.  Because of that - these puffs were a huge hit.  Not too pretty but SUPER yummy.  My family raved about how good they tasted and their weird appearance didn't stop me from posting them on my blog either.  They were so delicious that I couldn't bring myself to eliminate the recipe just because of how they looked so please excuse the pictures and trust me when I tell you - they tasted better than they looked. 

Ham and Cheese Spinach Puffs

• 2 sheets puff pastry

For the bechamel sauce

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (240ml) warm milk
• 1 pinch of salt
• Freshly cracked pepper, to taste

The filling

• 1/2 cup cooked ham, diced
• 2 cups fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped
• 1 cup cheese, grated
  

Melt butter in skillet.

Whisk in flour and salt.

Whisk in warm milk.

Stir and heat to boiling.  Reduce heat and continue to boil until thickened.

Stir in spinach.  Cook 1 minute.

Stir in ham and cheese.

Unfold pastry and cut into 4 squares.

Add a spoonful of filling to the center of each square.

Fold corners into center.  (If you want more closed squares, make sure to overlap the centers.)

Combine 1 egg and 1 teaspoon water.  Brush over dough.

Bake 20 minutes at 400.

This recipe came about because we had a little bit of leftover ham in the frig and all sorts of little pieces of cheese.  This is the perfect leftover recipe to use up some of those bits and pieces that you have in the refrigerator. 

Next time that I make these, I will secure the centers of the dough with a little dab of egg wash before baking.  Maybe that will help make them a little cuter - not that it matters to my family.

Ciao!