Chef’s Handyman Christmas menu for the recipe blog! Today: Puff pastry stars filled with lentils and chickpea pesto and tomato pomegranate salad! A great vegetarian starter!
This vegetarian dish is festively decorated with gold stars. I like this filled puff pastry stars very much. The Eastern spices will give the lentils and chickpeas a great taste. The tomato pomegranate salad is very refreshing and is a perfect combination with the pulses. The peppermint and the parsley with the lemon and orange rind, will give a fruity note.
All Christmas cooking recipes will be published in the Chef’s Handyman app for iPhone and iPad as well.
Chef’s Handyman cooking recipe for the recipe blog for 4 persons: Puff pastry stars filled with lentil and chickpea pesto, served with tomato pomegranate salad.
To make puff pastry stars, roll dough out. Press floured cookie cutter into dough. Bake puff pastry stars in oven at 200°C or 400°F for 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack. Dust with gold powder.
Place lentils in a pan. Add threefold more water. (Lentils boiled with salt, will not cook through). Bring water to the boil then reduce heat. Simmer lentils for approx. 20 minutes or until cooked through. Drain lentils and place them back in pan. Add half of spices. Stir from time to time to avoid scorching them.
Cut bell pepper and leek into small pieces. Chop onions and garlic. Preheat pan. Simmer garlic, onions and the rest of spices in oil. Add leek and bell pepper and turn them in the spiced oil until cooked through. Add mixture to the lentils. Season the lentils to taste with salt and pepper. Add a cup of plain yoghurt and lemon juice.
Place half of lentils and chickpeas in a bowl. Mix with the hand blender. When the mixture is too thick add more yoghurt. Add rest of lentils and chickpeas. Combine ingredients.
To make salad, cut tomatoes in pieces. Chop parsley and peppermint leaves. Add pomegranate seeds. Season the salad to taste with salt and black pepper. Sprinkle salad with olive oil and lemon juice. Garnish with lemon and orange rind. Toss lightly.
Place puff pastry stars on a plate. Apply lentil and chickpea mixture on top. Close with another puff pastry stars. Serve with tomato pomegranate salad.
Shopping list for 4 persons:
Pulses: 7 Oz chickpeas (canned), 6 Oz lentils
Fruits: 14 Oz tomatoes, 1 lemon organic, 1 pomegranate, 1 orange organic
Spices: 1 tsp. cardamom, 1 tbsp. curry paste, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 4 pinch salt, 4 pinch black pepper, 1 garlic clove, 1 tbsp. jeera, 1 tsp. curcuma, 1 tsp. chili flakes
Vegetables: 1 bell pepper, 1 leek, 1 onion
Oil: 2 tbsp. olive oil
Dairy Products: 1 cup plain yoghurt
Herbs: 1 bunch parsley, 1 bunch peppermint
Baking Ingredients: 1 tsp. gold sugar
Dough: 1 puff pastry sheet
Liquids: 1 cup water
This cooking recipe will be published in the Chef’s Handyman App for iPhone/iPad. The cooking recipe can be downloaded in the e-cookbook ‘Free Trial Recipes’. Push the update button in the category screen within the mentioned e-cookbook. When the app will be downloaded the first time, this recipe will be already included. The Chef’s Handyman App can be found in the iTunes Store.
