Spinach and Basil Pinwheels

As you may have noticed, I haven’t had as much time to play around in the kitchen like I used to. It’s the last semester of graduate school and things are as busy as ever. But I wanted to make a point to experiment with something new, so I planned ahead of time to set some time aside to make some kind of salty crunchy appetizer. 

Mm.. Just the IDEA of that sounded good to me. I went to whole foods and picked up a package of puff pastry and had the flavor of Basil in mind. Basil is definitely one of my favorite spices, and think it goes well in just about everything. So it was a safe bet for me.

But I practically got carried away.

I added 5 tsp, then 5 more… then 5 more. Clearly basil was a serious craving. I told myself “This is crazy, no more after this” but then decided to add one more, just for the heck of it. I was staring at 16 tsp of the same dried herb. Yes, that’s 1/3 of an entire cup. And I used it all.

Surprisingly it was just right! It sure does pack a POW of flavor that smacks you in the face, but it’s actually balanced out by the neutrality of the puff pastry. Somehow the strength of the flavor tricks your mind into thinking there’s garlic or onion in there, which was a fun party trick.

The only thing I might change is to make half the amount of filling. My taste-testers strongly disagreed, so I honored their opinion first and put the original recipe here, but for my personal taste I would spread the filling among two packages of puff pastry.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh spinach, packed
• 2 tbsp chopped almonds
• 2 tbsp chopped pecans
• 1/4-1/3 cup dried basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup veganaise
• 1 tbsp flour (for dusting)
• 1 roll puff pastry, thawed

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. Toast almonds and pecans on low heat in a non-oiled pan until toasted.
3. Combine spinach, basil, nuts and veganaise in a food processor. But dont chop all the way because you want to keep some texture
4. on a floured counter, unroll the puff pastry into a rectangle. spread the filling evenly all over the pastry and the roll up into a log.
5. use dental floss to cut 1-inch slices. place slices on a baking sheet.
6. use your hand to lightly flatten each one. bake for 30 minutes, or until tops begin to brown.