Halloween Dismembered Foot Pastries

I'm always looking for savoury Halloween food ideas and these dismembered feet pastries were incredibly popular and they're vegetarian too! These foot pastries are filled with a cheese and spinach filling encased in butter puff pastry with flaked almonds for toes. If you count your piggies carefully you'll notice that some feet have 6 toes!

Dismembered Foot Pastries

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Makes 9 pastries

• Oil for frying

• 1 leek, green top removed, thinly sliced

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and diced

• 200g/7ozs baby cavolo nero or spinach

• 250g/8.8ozs provolone cheese, grated

• 70g/2.5ozs. parmesan cheese, grated

• 2 tablespoons chilli oil (I use Lulu's Remedy)

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 3 sheets butter puff pastry

• Flaked almonds

• 1 beaten egg for egg wash to seal and brush

Step 1 - Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the leek on low medium heat until softened but not browned. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute. Then add the baby spinach or cavolo nero and sauté and allow to cook down until wilted. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Place in a blender with the two cheeses, chilli oil, mustard and sugar. You can make this mixture a day or two ahead of time and place in the fridge until needed.

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F Thaw the butter puff pastry in the fridge for an hour before you need it. Take out one sheet at a time and keep the rest in the fridge. Cut each square into three strips. Brush each strip around the edge of each rectangle. Take 2 heaped tablespoons of the cheese mixture and place halfway down each strip leaving an inch at the bottom. Bring the top over to enclose and press down to seal the edges. With the extra inch cut "toes" starting with one big toe and then smaller toes and spread the toes apart a little. With a sharp knife poke a few holes on top. Then brush with egg wash and gently affix flaked almonds as nails and bake for 25 minutes.