Sweet Potato Tuna Melts and Ham, Spinach and Gruyere Croissant Ring

Dear Jess,


I agree! The weather is so frightful! I hope you are feeling better and getting some rest! I just started feeling that my cold has left me (for now) so I completely know how you feel. The chilly wind doesn't help either.


To aid in keeping warm and happy, I made two recipes that are both hearty, simple, and (of course) delicious.


I found this one in a Canadian Living (I think) magazine at Moksha. I was sitting with Jason on Sunday night, and neither of us wanted to go outside just to pick up some groceries. I decided it was a perfect opportunity to make this, because we had some sweet potatoes lying around.


Sweet Potato Tuna Melts
olive oil
2-3 sweet potatoes (the ones I had were extremely skinny, so I used 3)
1 can of tuna
thyme or basil or oregano (anything you like, actually)
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
cheese (the recipe called for swiss, I used cheddar because it's all I had... It would be yummy with any kind)


1. Stab and bake your sweet potatoes on a tray and/or in foil at 375 for 45-50 minutes. When they are cooked, cut them in half length-wise and with a spoon, scoop out the potato into a large bowl.
2. In a small pan on medium heat, put some olive oil, onions and celery. Cook for 10(ish) minutes, or until they have softened. Add to your bowl with the sweet potato. Add tuna and thyme (or whatever you choose).
3. Line the potato skins on a cookie sheet. Stuff with your filling and top with your cheese. Broil until cheese is melted.

This next recipe I found in Tana Ramsay's cook book 'Home Made'. I think you were with me when I bought it at Costco last year. This is the first recipe I have tried from it, and I am so excited to try more! I chose this because it looked fancy yet simple. It also had lots of spinach in it (which I love) and honey ham (which I had leftovers of). I made some changes (of course), so I will give you my changes in brackets!


Ham, Spinach and Gruyere Croissant Ring
oil for greasing
2x240g packs of croissant dough
250g/9oz spinach, washed
10 slices of honey-roast ham, cut into strips (I used my leftover 2-3 slices of ham, and added 2 chorizo sausages, skinned and finely chopped, that I had left from my soup)
zest of 1 lemon
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
5 spring onions, chopped (I used one small yellow onion finely chopped) 
10 small button mushrooms, sliced into quarters
50g/2oz rocket leaves (I just used 2oz more spinach) 
5 tbsp mascarpone cheese
50g/2oz Gruyere cheese, finely grated (I used feta) 
black pepper


1. Preheat the oven to 350. Oil a pizza stone or grease a baking tray. Leave the croissant dough in the fridge until the last minute.
2. Start by blanching the spinach. Bring a pan of water to a boil, drop in the spinach and allow it to wilt for 3 minutes. remove from the pan and leave to drain over the pan - this takes a little while but you don't want excess water in the dough ring.
3. Meanwhile, put the ham (and sausage) into a large mixing bowl, add the lemon zest, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and rocket (extra spinach, not blanched.) Once the spinach has drained, stir the mascarpone cheese through it and add to the ham mix in the bowl. Add a good grinding of black pepper.
4. Take the dough out of the fridge, lay it out on the chopping board and separate along the perforations until you have them separated. Arrange the triangles (if they are squares, then cut diagonal into triangles) so they overlap and are in a large circle - the idea being you place your filling along the middle then pull over the top tips of the triangle and tuck underneath to encase the filling. (I did two logs rather than a circle to save space.) Continue until you have used all your triangles, then spoon on the filling. Finish by sprinkling the Gruyere cheese (feta) over the filling, then fold the triangle tips over and tuck them underneath.
5. Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Ensure the dough is cooked through and has a golden top. Serve immediately. 

 

I love you and miss you. Although I am thrilled that I get to see you more often these days! 


Love,
Sally