Steak Fajita Puffs

It's not all that common to have leftovers when steak is for dinner, but we went out to eat and couldn't finish our steaks. Sometimes I'll toss together some fajitas with the leftovers, but this time I wanted to try a new twist on that fajita flavor. I saw a recipe on the Pepperidge Farm website for veggies and puff pastry and thought it looked yummy. The zucchini I bought for it went limp and jiggly after two days (produce these days, am I right?) so I had to invent my way into a new recipe! These little bites are a snappy appetizer for a group get together.

Yield 25 puffs | 20 minute prep | 20 minute bake (40 min thaw for puff pastry)

Needed

Cookie sheets
Parchment paper
Pastry brush

Steak Fajita Puffs

1 sheet Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry, thawed
1/2 cup ricotta cheese (cream cheese might work, might work even better)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp fajita seasoning mix (I found this mix at an Amish bulk foods store. Lots of recipes online to make your own too. The spices are likely in your cupboards already.)
1 tsp lime juice
Steak, sliced into strips
Red pepper, sliced into matchstick strips
1/4 of a yellow onion, sliced into matchstick strips
1 egg
1 Tbs water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix together ricotta, Parmesan, fajita mix, and lime juice. In a separate bowl whisk egg and water. Set aside.

Prepare sliced steak, pepper, and onion, 25 slices of each. I wrapped my pepper slices in some paper towels to help absorb some of their abundant sweet juices.

Roll out thawed pastry on floured surface or parchment paper to make a 12x10 rectangle. Cut a two-inch strip off the long end of the rectangle so there's a 10x10 square and a 2x10 strip. Cut out 25 two-inch-square squares from the 10x10 sheet. Cut the long strip into 25 small rectangles (about the width of a piece of Trident gum). Luckily the dough is a bit forgiving if you want to pinch back together a bad cut.

Drop about 1 tsp of cheese mixture into the middle of a pastry square. Slap on some steak diagonally across the square so there are two dough wings at the side, ready to wrap around the filling. Place the veggies on top of the steak with their natural curving up.

I ran out of steak before veggies so I made a few vegetarian ones. Both are tasty. But having the chew of the steak in with the bite of veggies and puff of pastry is nice for us meat eaters.

Wrap the dough wings over the veggies and pinch tight. Take a "trident stick" strip of dough and wrap it around the middle of the puff, pinching the ends together at the underside of the edible little canoe that it is.

Place puffs veggie-side up on parchment-covered cookie sheet about an inch or two apart. Brush with egg wash and bake for 15 - 20 minutes. I always like a little extra bake on my pastry, so I went with 20, moving from bottom rack to top rack for last minute or two for golden pump.

Allow to cool a minute on the cookie sheet, then cool on a rack for a couple minutes before serving hot. They're still pretty good after they cool to room temperature, but they might not last that long!

I love how endlessly flexible this bite could be. Try jalapeño cream cheese, go wild with shrimp or meatballs and matching flavors...I know I'm definitely going to try a sweet version soon enough! I've been kind of intimidated to work with puff pastry for some reason. It was way too simple. I'll likely become kinda puffy in the middle section soon for all the things I'll try with puff pastry. Maybe someday I'll even try making my own puff pastry. Spoonful at a time.

Bite to it!