Empanadas

I have had Empanadas once before at a local restaurant but other than that I had no really information on what an Empanada was or what was in them. Truth be told I saw the name and what they looked like and I was hooked on trying to make them. What can I say - meet in puff pastry how could that not turn out good right!?

Then as I started to prepare for the recipe I actually looked at the ingredients and couldn't believe that there were green olives and hard boiled eggs in the actual filling.  I was surprised and the funny thing is I didn't think that the husband would eat these because of the filling.

I figured I would dive in and try them anyways and as the recipe laid out the filling. The funny thing is they were completely amazing and so good I actually only managed to get one picture.  The husband loved them and the daughter keep sneaking them out of the fridge and ate six in one night and then kept begging to be able to have them to bring with her to school.

The recipe was a hit - and honestly I have looked just a little more into them and it turns out that these little bomb shells can have tons of different fillings. I had made a double batch of the puff pastry - which wasn't necessary and means I have some left over - which also means that I will just have to make more. I am sure the family will suffer through the hardship of eating them again willingly.

Empanadas

Onion Pakora, Samosas and Empenadas

2 - 11 ounce packages of frozen all-butter puff pastry (I made my own)
Olive Oil
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Pinch of ground cumin
Pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp paprika
10 ounces ground beef
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup pitted green olives, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried chile flakes
Pinch of sugar
2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
1 large egg beaten

1. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 1/8 inch and cut out 18 discs, using 4-inch cutter or saucer. Cover the discs with plastic wrap and chill while preparing the filling.
2. Heat a sauce pan over medium heat and add a little olive oil. Sweat the onion and garlic gently for about 5 minutes until soft but no coloured. Add the cumin, cinnamon, paprika and stir until aromatic. 
3. Add the beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes until lightly browned. Mix in the olives, oregano, chile flakes, sugar, and hard-boiled eggs. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Leave to cool.
4. Once the beef has cooled, spoon 1 tablespoon onto each pastry disc, leaving a 1/4-inch border around the edge. Brush beaten egg around half the border, then fold the pastry over and press the edges together to seal and create a half-moon shape. Crimp the edges, removing any air pockets as you go. 
5. Chill the empanadas for 20 minutes to firm up. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F. 
6. Place the empanadas on a baking sheet. Make a steam hole in the top of each one with a skewer, then brush with beaten eggs. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. 
7. Once the empanadas are cooked, cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with chimichurri sauce. 

Vegetable Samosas

So I love Indian food. I haven't always been familiar with it and honestly only since meeting my husband have I truly grown to love it. (Always liked it just had to deal with someone who thought it all tasted the same, would make the house smell and the flavour from one thing gets into everything else...*sigh* )

Anyways as husband explains it - England is like the home of Indian food (I don't get it but that's what I'm told) and despite this fact when we visited England we actually never went out for Indian food.  We do have some favourite Indian food spots here in the city and Samosas have always been one of the things I love so when I came across this recipe in Canadian Living The Ultimate Cookbook I was very excited and knew I had to try making it. 

These little pastry filled jewels are not hard by any imagination but they are a time consuming process. The entire thing took me well a long time (I was tag teaming two recipes) but I would say in total it would be a good hours worth of work so next time I would double the recipe and make more of them for probably not that much more time.   The most time consuming part of it was the filling of the Samosas so I figure if I can prepare everything next time and rope in some help for that I should be good to go.  The pastry is very similar to making a puff pastry so I treated it like that and had a good result. I learned the very important part of making sure the dough is sealed ALL the way around. But other than that this was a big success - so much so I didn't get many pictures and the monkey managed to try and sneak some every day for lunch and then would grab them out of the fridge for a snack - they didn't last long at all! I served these with the two chutneys I made (see recipes here) as opposed to the Cilantro Chutney in the book. 

The last point I'll make here is about kitchen equipment - buy thermometers and use them appropriately.  I have 4 of them:

1. Instant read (for checking water temps when baking or meats like chicken or steak);
2. Oven/ BBQ safe one (the probe goes into the meat and then the read out is on the side of the oven or BBQ - good for meats that have longer cook times (roasts, chicken, turkey) I always use them to make sure my meats are done and not over done;
3. Candy thermometer - because I do with work sugars and such - I know I can use this in oil but because it's glass I don't like using it there and prefer the one that has the metal base for deep frying; and,
4. Deep Fry thermometer - now I figure I can use my candy one in the fryer but the bottoms and entire thing is set up differently so I like using them for their specific purposes. 

Vegetable Samosas

Vegetable Samosas
Dough2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup milk
Filling2 cups diced peeled potatoes (about 3 medium sized)
1/2 cup diced carrots (about 1 medium)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tspCumin Seeds
1 tspBrown Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander sees
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 onion chopped (I diced)
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Vegetable oil for deep frying

1. In a bowl with a pastry blender (or food processor which I don't like) combine flour, cumin seeds and salt; pulse or cut in butter until in fine crumbs. Stir in milk until ball beings to form. Press into ditch, wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
2. In large pot of boiling salted water, cook potatoes and carrots until tender (about 10 min) drain.
3. While potatoes and carrots are cooking, in large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook fennel, cumin and mustard seeds; turmeric coriander and fenugreek seeds; and cayenne pepper just until cumin seeds begin to pop (about 1 min0
4. Add onion, garlic, ginger and salt; cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in potatoes mixture and peas.  Add lemon juice and cilantro - stir to combine well and let cool. 
5. Cut dough into 12 pieces; form each into a flat round. On floured surface roll out each piece into 6-inch circle; cut in half. (I just rolled out the entire sheet and used a large cookie cutter to make circles which I then cut in half - this made smaller samosas and more of them).  
6. Working with 1 piece at a time, moisten half of the cut edge with water. Form cone shape by overlapping edges by 1/4 inch (Think of making what looks like a sugar cone - making sure the bottom of the cone is sealed.)
7. Fill with 1 tbsp potato mixture (I just filled with as much as i could fit and still close the dough). Moisten top inside edges of the pastry; press to seal - make sure ALL SEAMS ARE SEALED. 
8. Trim jagged edges of pastry; crimp edge with fork. 
9. Pour enough oil into deep saucepan or pot to come 2 inches up the side (I just use my wonderful deep fryer). Heat oil until 350F (again I would buy a deep-fryer thermometer - I have about 4 different kinds of thermometers in my kitchen totally worth it). 
10. Work in batches, deep-frying the samosas, turning often until golden brown (about 4 minutes per bath; I would rescue them from the oil and then onto a paper towel-lined baking sheet. 
11. If you prefer to bake these (why? I'm mean just why?) 425F for 15 minutes).

Fettuccine Alfredo

So I have made pasta before - nothing new right?  Well yes and no - I am still counting this for the 366 challenge as something I've never made before because everything in this meal was done from scratch.  

So I have to admit that I am a HUGE lover of Fettuccine Alfredo (well more so the Alfredo sauce than the actual Fettuccine - I usually opt too have cheese filled ravioli with Alfredo sauce on top ... yes I love cheese!)

In any event this week was the husband's birthday so I figured I would give him the option of what he wanted to have for supper on his birthday.  I sent him a list of the things I had been planning or thinking of making and his response was simple - pasta, with Alfredo sauce and maybe some chicken. Now I will totally admit - that I contemplated making the stuff from the box and jar - but since I had a new pasta recipe on my list I figured why not make this into something that will fit into my challenge while I'm at it.   

Fettuccine Alfredo with herb roasted Chicken

I then thought about the Alfredo sauce and that it probably wasn't too hard. OMG I was so right - the sauce has minimal ingredients by chance I had at the house in any event so I set off.  Mind you that I still have a pasta machine that I have to crank by hand (OMG just FYI - a  lot of work - I would love to get the attachment for my Kitchen Aid Mixer but for now I'll just keep working out my arms lol). 

Keeping in mind that I had several things on the go I made the pasta first - I haven't really let my pasta to have the chance to rest before and I wanted to try this recipe entirely as directed. After I finished the pasta and my preparation for chicken tikka to be served another night I got together my mis en place for the Alfredo Sauce, seasoned the chicken, pre-heated the oven and off I went. 

I rolled most of my pasta before starting my chicken on the stove and then went back to finishing the pasta.  I then made the sauce before I boiled the pasta since the fresh pasta doesn't take that long to cook. The end result was very delicious and made the birthday boy very happy :D  

I will also say that this was by far my favourite pasta recipe so I will likely keep it as my stand by. 

Alfredo Sauce
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup heavy cream (in Canada I used 18% cream as I find that if I used whipping cream ti leaves a funny taste)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cloves roasted garlic
1 cup grated Parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 cup grated Asiago cheese

1. Melt the butter over low heat in a medium sauce pan. Once the butter is melted add the heavy cream and mix well. 
2. I then mashed up and added in the 2 cloves of roasted garlic (I do a whole head of garlic and leave them in my fridge as they are usually a great addition to a recipe).
3. I then added the cheeses and mixed/whisked well until all of the cheese was melted. Most recipes only call for the parmigiano-reggiano cheese which is completely fine. However because we both love cheese so much I used both cheeses and frankly didn't actually measure them.  I just eye-balled the amount of cheese.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. I found because of the cheeses and the salted butter I used I didn't need too much salt but it definitely needed the hit of pepper. 

For the Chicken - honestly I rubbed it down well in salt and pepper, some basil and herbes de provence. I then put the chicken into a searing hot pan that had been coated in oil (I did use olive oil - bad choice as it has a low smoke point which means the oven did get a little smoky as I put the chicken in to cook through - next time I would use vegetable oil).  I turned the chicken once to get a nice sear and golden colour on both sides before putting it into the oven. 

Anne Burrel's All Purpose Pasta Dough 
1 pound all-purpose flour (honestly - I only measure flour now thanks to Alton Brown - buy a digital scale they aren't that expensive but if you don't have one about 3 3/4 cups)
4 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
2 tbsp water

1. Measure the water and add a good large pinch of salt and stir. Set aside. Measure the flour and then place onto counter in a mound. 
2. Make a well (hole) in the centre.  Make sure the well is large enough to accommodate all of the other wet ingredients.  Now most recipes say to crack the eggs and add them and the liquid ingredients into the well, but I find I have issues making sure my eggs are mixed properly - so I start by whisking the eggs really well in a bowl, then whisk in the oil and salt water once the eggs are thoroughly mixed.  I then pour this mixture into the well. 
3. Starting incorporating the flour from around the edge of the well until the mixture is less liquid and more solid. I then use my hands to start mixing it all together working all the flour into a dough. 
4. Once the dough is a fully combined mixture I start to knead - 10 minutes of picturing someone I'm not very found of seems to do the trick for kneading. Chef Anne's indicates it is important to not tear the dough but to stretch the dough. 
5. Once kneaded wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour. 
6. After the dough is done resting cut into quarters - start working with one quarter and keep the rest of the dough covered with plastic. I make a disk as flat as I can and then run it through the pasta maker.  Sprinkle flour over the inside and fold it into thirds - run it through again on the largest setting. Once I have the shape and size I'm going for I start to work the dough through the smaller dials. (For this one I went to the second smallest setting). 
7. I store the long sheets on a sheet pan that has a tea towel that has been lightly sprinkled with flour. I then sprinkle flour between the lawyers of dough as I fold the dough while I work through rolling out the rest.  I also cover the entire thing with another tea towel. 
8. Once all of the pasta is rolled I then cut into strips using the pasta maker. Next time it would have been wise to cut the long sheets into the proper length but live and learn. 
9. Cook the pasta in well salted boiling water for about 3 minutes (starts to float).  Drain and toss with the pasta sauce. 

When you can consider a failure a success

I think I'm pretty normal (pause wait for the fits of laughter to subside) but no really I think that generally speaking I'm fairly normal in terms of my fears, thoughts and feelings.

I've said its before and I will say it again - I come across as a person with a lot of confidence but usually I'm shaking in my boots waiting for the moment I can crawl back into a hiding spot and cry - like honestly I am terrified of failure and particularly public failure. It is one of the reasons why being public about my challenge is very scary - I'm terrified to fail and to fail publicly. However, I need to find a way to get over that in life. 

In any event one of the things that has been driving me in life has been the desire to compete on MasterChef Canada - I think I could and I have also been told that I could probably do this by several people. However, there have been vocal people (my parents) who have actually said that they didn't think I could do this because I depend too much on recipes and I don't have enough creativity or knowledge on my own. (Don't even get me started on that... I do follow a recipe very closely the first time I am making something from a recipe or when I am baking). 

My husband - who is my biggest supporter - thinks I could kick ass but also doesn't think I am ready yet.  He says I'm not ready because I need to start working on some of the challenge type things they have you focus on during the show and develop some of my other skills. So one of the things he said I should start trying is having a time limit and no recipe and then thinking on my feet about what to make. So that is exactly what I did! 

I set myself a 30 minute time limit and had no plan to start. So I looked in the fridge - I had a whole chicken, head of cauliflower and potatoes.  So I knew I wanted to do a roasted cauliflower puree, potatoes and chicken breasts. 

I started with the roast cauliflower - I cut down the head into florets and spread them on a cookie sheet. I found some indian spices that were speaking to me and put that in some olive oil and then tossed the cauliflower in the oil and spices. I threw them in the oven at 350F to roast. 

I started in on the potatoes - peeling, cutting into small chunks and into well salted boiling water. 

I then broke down the chicken - cutting off the wings and legs followed by the breasts. I used a cast iron ban with hot oil before putting the well seasoned chicken breasts into the pan, to add flavour I used lemon and orange juice over the chicken with some garlic to flavour the chicken.

Now I definitely went over the 30 minutes I had set out for myself and that largely had to do with my plan.  I should have started with the chicken and then worked my way to potatoes and then cauliflower. Shortening the cooking time by cutting the potatoes smaller and turning up the heat on the oven (I could have also skipped cutting up the cauliflower and done slices of the head because they were being pureed anyways). I wanted some veggies so I marinated onions and carrot in some olive oil with some salt and pepper.  

The food in and of itself tasted amazing. However, when plating I realized that I had two mashed/pureed items on the plate and I should have left something whole to give different textures.  So while a failure in terms of textures on the plate and having it poorly composed - the food itself was amazing. 

Chutney's - figuring them out

Food to go with the Chutney's

Even as I right this I haven't yet figured out entirely what a chutney is - so let's figure this out right now. 

So according to dictionary.com a Chutney is a sauce or relish of East Indian origin, often compounded of both sweet and sour ingredients, as fruits and herbs, with spices and other seasoning. I consulted the all high and powerful wikipedia for a little bit more information on chutney and here is what the oh so wise wikipedia had to say:

Chutneys may be ground with a mortar and pestle or an ammikkal (Tamil). Spices are added and ground, usually in a particular order; the wet paste thus made is sautéed in vegetable oil, usually gingelly (sesame) or peanut oil. Electric blenders or food processors can be used as labor-saving alternatives to stone grinding.
American and European-style chutneys are usually fruit, vinegar, and sugar cooked down to a reduction, with added flavourings. These may include sugar, salt, garlic, tamarind, onionor ginger.^[14] Western-style chutneys originated from Anglo-Indians at the time of the British Raj recreated Indian chutneys using English orchard fruits — sour cooking apples and rhubarb, for example. They would often contain dried fruit: raisins, currants and sultanas.

So I ended up making two chutney's this week.  The first was a result of watching a video of Chef Jet Tila and Chef Simon Majumdar (often seen on Cut Throat Kitchen - click here to watch the video) I was very interested in trying out both recipes especially in light of my findings at Young's with the fresh herbs. 

My first chutney

Cilantro, Mint, Lime and Jalapeno Chutney
- 3 bunches of cilantro (I used one of the full trays)
- Mint (I used basically a soup bowl full)
- Juice of 4 limes
- Zest from the 4 limes
- A good pinch of sugar (this is my addition to try and cut the heat a little but I'm a complete wimp)- A good pinch of salt
- 4 seeded seruiano peppers (I used 2 seeded jalapeño instead because I had them and I don't like tons of spice)- 5 garlic cloves
- 4 inches of peeled and rough chopped ginger
- 250 mL of full fat plain yogurt

Place all of the ingredients in a blender - for the cilantro use the entire cilantro leaves and stocks. Run until the mixture is smooth and there is bits or pieces left. 

I did post a picture of this on Instagram saying I was going to use it the next day and I was told it gets better and let me tell you it does!

Mint and Yogurt Chutney

I then had a request from the husband to make something that he had been missing.  He went to visit the book store and of course was looking through cook books (watch for my next set of books).  In any event he found a recipe for Mint and yogurt chutney which I made in anticipation of some other dishes that I was going to attempt.

Mint and Yogurt Chutney
5 tbsp greek yogurt
1/2 ounce fresh mint
1 fresh green chili, seeded and finely sliced
1 tsp sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
a pinch of salt
- Put all of the ingredients in a blender and whizz up to mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning and consistency, adding salt, sugar and water as needed. 

Doughnuts - oh so bad but soo good

Mis en place for doughnuts!

So there is a terrible downside to watching cooking and food based shows while cooking. Don't believe me - then ask how I ended up getting inspired to make doughnuts. Now again they are amazing but honestly you should not trust me to sit around and fry dough and not want to try some.



In any event I was watching Good Eats and was inspired to try making doughnuts. I make bread, cinnamon buns, pizza dough from scratch why can't I try making doughnuts. So I did a search on Foodnetwork.com and found Alton Brown's recipe for yeast based droughts and had to give it a try.

The first inaugural fried item!

Now oddly enough I have been watching the show "Worst Cooks in America" I don't personally think I need that show - but the tips, tricks and methods that they demonstrate in the show are sometimes really fantastic and helpful in life - not to mention I have had a few of my inspirations for things I want to make come from the show. The one thing I have really taken away from the show is mis en place - now I've heard this term a lot and I'm sure any other person who watches these types of show has heard of the term mis en place - basically meaning to get all of your ingredients and things prepared before hand.  I of course learned this skill/technique in high school and them promptly stopped following it a while ago.  This combined with not always reading a recipe all the way through before starting has occasionally lead to a few interesting times in the kitchen. However, I figure it really ought to be a practice I start getting into - although when considering time restrictions I'm not sure about always doing it - but in any event I mis en place'd and I'm proud of it!

First bunch of doughnuts

Yeast Doughnuts
1 1/2 cups milk
2 1/2 ounces vegetable shortening (~1/3 cup)
2 packages instant yeast
1/3 cup warm water (95 to 105 degrees F)
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
23 ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Oil for frying

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside. 
2. in a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. 
3. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into a large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg and half of the flour. (The original is like this - I usually add my sugar to the warm water with the yeast to help them get going). 
4. Using the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined. 
5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well. 



Covered with cinnamon sugar

6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. (I found the dough to be sticky and not like bread dough in terms of the finish product - I also scrapped down the sides of the bowl when I switched to the dough hook). 
7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Based on a previous mishap with bread - I made sure to turn the oil in the bowl so it was coated all the way up the sides of the bowl.  I also placed my bowl in the oven the same way I do for bread. I turn on the oven for about 30 seconds, and then place a cake pan full of really hot tap water on the bottom of the oven and then place the bowl in half way up - I find this helps make my bread and yeast doughs very happy). 
8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to a 3/8 inch thick. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2 inch doughnut cutter or pastry ring and using a 7/8 inch ring for the centre whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes (again back into the oven) (I found that the dough was a little weird to get rolled out at first but I quickly got the hang of it.  I wold also note that I probably should have picked up and turned the dough before cutting out the circles only because the circles I cut without doing this shrunk back up). 
9. Preheat the oil in a deep frying or dutch oven to 365 degrees F. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in a baking pan (note: I lined the bottom with paper towel - smart idea!!) Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing. 

Filled and Glazed

Now I both glazed and sugar coated my doughnuts - I will post how I coated them in sugar - but next time I would just dump my doughnuts into the sugar right out of the deep fryer.

To sugar coat them - I melted a stick of butter in a small pan, and then mixed 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon in a bow( I also added a dash of fresh ground nutmeg).  I then dipped the doughnuts into the butter and then sugar (just on one side). However, next time I would probably go right from the fryer into the sugar.

I took the last remaining parts after the dough couldn't be rolled out again in a good fashion and made little balls thinking I could make doughnut holes. They actually turned out larger than expected so I ended up filling them with lemon custard or bumble berry jam and glazed them.

To make the glaze I heated 1cup milk on the stove to almost a simmer, then added vanilla and 2 cups powdered sugar. I then turned off the burner and dipped the doughnuts. Because I had extra glaze left over I ended up using a fork and sprinkling a little over the cinnamon sugar doughnuts because - well why not add a little more sugar right?!

Sage and Onion Sausage Rolls

So as we know the husband is English and we don't live in England. This means that there are often treats or foods from home are a thing that he misses and requests the most often.  One of the things he frequently picks up is sausage rolls. However, I hear that they are not the same - so my goal a long time ago was to try and make things that remind my husband of home (frankly this was a tactic I used when dating him to win him over - not that I needed much help - but I definitely think it was important to him.)

Finished Sage and Onion Sausage Roll

So I have made "sausages" once - I even ground my own pork and seasoned the meat. The only problem is that I could NOT find sausage casing anywhere so I just hand formed them kind of into a sausage shape - hence my calling them "sausages".  In any event this time I took a short cut thanks to a lovely old lady I meet in the grocery store (yes you will notice a pattern of me finding out a bunch of cool things by talking to people in the grocery store)... Anyways she showed me where they had unseasoned sausage meat in the frozen section of the store - balk all you want because it is frozen and not fresh - but honestly for something like this where I'm thinking more about technique and getting it to work rather than anything else I was thinking of grinding my own meat (I will do that one of the times I make them).

So sausage rolls are in essence really simple - sausage meat housed in puff pastry. However, I definitely consider this a learning experience in the overall technique for making this because it is a little more complicated than putting meat in puff pastry.

I did make the puff pastry from scratch - and this was my first issue - not making the pastry itself but finding my recipe for making the pastry.  I have heard and found that a lot of things call for the pre-packaged dough. However, I have made puff pastry before and it's not that complicated so I don't know why I would buy the pre-packaged puff pastry any more unless it was really a time crunch. Ever have this problem - make a delicious recipe and forget where you have, found or keep the recipe?  I'm finding this to be a huge issue and I need to find a way of starting to manage this issue given the number of sources I have.  I will recommend the app "MealBoard" it is where I keep most of my recipes - especially the ones that I find online - it also makes it really easy to check what things you might need for a recipe if the inspiration hits you in the grocery store. It also allows you to meal plan, create a grocery shopping list, import recipes or send a copy a recipe easily.

In any event I make my puff pastry from scratch and by hand the additions for this particular recipe are in italics - I added them to give flavour to the pastry because of the type of dish I was making:

Puff Pastry
10 ounces cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup cold tap water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground sage
A pinch of Basil
A pinch of Onion Powder

Waiting to be wrapped up!

1. Cut 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter into 1/2 to 1/4 inch dice, place on a plate and refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients. Measure water and add salt; stir to dissolve and set aside.  (Note: I cut the butter lengthwise four times then stack this slices again, turn over cut into four lengths along the other side so basically you'll end up with 16 long sticks of butter and then I cut the sticks into smaller cubes.  I also usually take butter right out of the freezer for this or I put the butter in the freezer before I cut it and after I cut it to keep it really cold). 
2. Coarsely dice the remaining 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter. Place flour in work bowl (of food processor fitted with metal blade; add 4 tablespoons of butter and pulse until butter is absorbed - about ten to twelve 1-second pulses) or do like I do and use a pastry knife and cut the butter into the flour. 
3. Add the remaining butter and pulse once or twice to distribute. Add water and pulse 3 or 4 times, just until dough forms a rough blah. Do not over-process.
4. Flour work surface and scrape dough from work bowl. Shape dough into a rough rectangle and places between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Press sought with rolling pin to flatten, then roll back and forth several times with rolling pin to make a 12 x 18 inch rectangle of dough. 
5. Peel away plastic wrap and invert dough to floured work surface. Peel away second piece of wrap. Fold dough in thirds in the width, folding the top third down and the bottom third up, to make a 6 x 18 - inch rectangle, then roll up the dough from one of the 6-inch ends, making sure to roll end under dough. Press the dough into a square, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. 

Once that was done I worked on my sausage meat:

In the oven on the way to being tasty!

Sausage Fillings
1 package of ground meat (I used pork sausage)
1/2 cup finely chopped sage
2 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard powder

I mixed all of the above ingredients into a bowl and then I cooked off about a tbsp size ball just to test my seasoning and adjust the seasoning in the mixture. I also used onion powder in place of onion because of the husbands issues with texture.  Normally I would have finely diced 1 small onion and then sweated the onion for about 3-5 minutes maybe with some garlic (now don't tell him - I probably will do that next time shhhh our secret).

I then loaded the mixture into one of my disposable pipping bags with a large round tip (can't remember the size off hand).  Once that was ready I pulled out the puff pastry and rolled it out.  Now here's the first issue - I wanted the pastry thin which is a good thing but I think I went too thin or used too much - because after I piped out two strips on each half of the pastry I ended up rolling the pastry around the filling - bad idea - left too much pastry.

I then used egg wash to seal the edge of the pastry as I wrapped it and then popped it into a 350 oven for about 20+ minutes - we used an instant read thermometer to make sure the meat was fully cooked.

They were good!  Husband was happy! Some issues to fix for next time (which if husband has his way is very very soon!)