Party Food

OK, so I'm kind of ashamed. I set up the shiny new blog... and then I went gallivanting off on a family holiday without a word to anyone, and with no regard for all the food bloggers of legend and other lovely people who left me birthday messages and comments (though in my defence, I genuinely expected people to just ignore me). So I really want to say a massive thankyou to everyone who left a comment, I was a bit shocked really touched.

What with having been in France for the past decade (if you're wondering what a holiday with my family feels like, bash your head against a brick wall a few times to get the same effect) I've not been cooking, so I'm just going to share something I made for my birthday (now an embarassingly long few weeks ago).

I don't exactly know where this recipe came from, as I got it from a handwritten book of my mum's - she writes down any recipes she uses. However she doesn't source them, so in the event of a legal battle it's my mother's fault if I go the prison. Just dropping that in there.

Salmon pesto pinwheels
Makes 18
Preparation: about 5-10 mins
Cooking: 15 mins

213g can red salmon (my mum's written to use more, but this was enough for me. Kind of fortunately, because I didn't actually have any more salmon)
Olive oil for greasing
375g ready-bought block of puff pastry
2 tbsp red pesto sauce

1. Drain the salmon, and remove the skin and bone. Use a fork to flake it. You'll probably find about a billion more bones at this point, cause salmon's a bitch like that. Heat your oven to 200C and brush two baking sheets with oil.

2. Roll out the puff pastry into a big rectangle (if you want to make this bit more interesting, you could be like me, and not let it thaw properly first). The long side should be about 25cm long, and the shorter side should be... a bit shorter.

3. Spread pesto evenly over the surface of the pastry and sprinkle the salmon over the top of that and roll it up from the long side into a sausage. Slice into 18 pieces - they should each be about half an inch (1.5cm) thick. Lay them on the baking sheets with gaps between them and bake for 15 minutes.

This is madly easy and you can do it in no time; just wander off to watch Neighbours or something while they're in the oven. They also freeze beautifully... as you can see if you look closely at the photos. I swear I will have the patience to let something defrost properly one day...