Creating New Favorite Recipes

One of the hardest things about moving to a new country is leaving behind your old favorite foods. For me that meant abandoning (or seriously adapting) taco night and giving up our favorite pizza places. It takes some time to find new favorites, but once you do, you can't imagine giving THEM up!  One of our family's new favorite recipes since moving to France is this cheesy-potato wrap that is pretty easy to make.  I made it up, after finding the pastry squares at the grocery store, and there are endless ways to change it according to what ingredients you have on hand and what you like. When I go back to the States, I use puff pastries to get a similar result.  Note: don't use Pillsbury crescent rolls - I tried it, and it comes out WAY too bready and thick.  Yuck.  Below are the ingredients that I use, but the cheeses and spices can be substituted according to taste and availability. This only takes about 30 minutes, and it's easy to keep the ingredients on hand (you can keep puff pastries in the freezer). Enjoy this little taste of France!

Ingredients:
Croustipate feuilletes or Puff Pastries (you want four 5-6 inch squares)
Various melty cheeses (I use raclette, goat and mozzerella)
Potatoes
Lettuce
White wine (or milk or cream)
Spices (I use Lawry's seasoned salt, garlic salt, onion powder and pepper)

First, peel about four small potatoes.  Then cut the potatoes into small pieces (maybe 1/2 inch), put them in a pot, just covering them with water, and boil them until they're soft.

While the potatoes are boiling, start putting some cheeses into another pot.  This is totally adaptable to what you have on hand and your tastes.  I've done it with lots of different mixes, but the one we like best is with about 200 grams (7 oz) of raclette, 100 grams (3.5 oz) of goat cheese and 50 grams (2 oz) of mozzarella. (I actually don't measure any of these; I just dump some cheese in the pot). I often don't have mozzarella on hand, so I just do the raclette and goat (and sometimes I add some emmental). You could do monterrey jack if you like spicy. Just cut up the cheeses and melt them ON LOW HEAT.  If the heat is too high the cheese will get rubbery.  It won't be totally ruined, but it's much better if it melts slowly and never gets too hot. I like to add a small amount of white wine, but you could also use milk or cream for a bit of liquid.  Add a few shakes of Lawry's seasoned salt and garlic salt and a dash each of onion powder and pepper (again, this changes all the time - add whatever flavors you like). Keep stirring often until melted. The cheese should be soft and stretchy. You can add more liquid if needed.

While the cheese is melting and the potatoes are cooking, turn the oven to 375 Fahrenheit and place the pastry squares on a cookie sheet. Drain the potatoes when they are soft.

Put a small scoop of potatoes, followed by a scoop of cheese in the center of each square.  Bring the corners of the squares to the center and press them together. Don't worry if there are gaps...some of the filling will ooze out and they won't be as pretty, but they'll taste fine!

Put the tray in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes (until the squares turn golden brown).  While they're cooking, wash a big handful of lettuce and pat or spin dry. 

When the squares are done, take them out of the oven and transfer them to plates (they can stick to the pan, so I use a metal spatula). Arrange some lettuce on top of each square, pour your wine and enjoy!

You can also make a dessert from these pastry squares.  My favorites are filling them with melted chocolate and chopped pecans and then topping with strawberries, or filling them with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and pecans. You just fold them and pop them in the oven while you're eating dinner and voila! Dessert. Sorry, no pics...we didn't do dessert last night :(  
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