Tablescapes, Easy Anytime dinner
We were having some friends over for a casual evening and some dinner. I planned to make several salads, a chicken casserole, rice and wanted to try a recipe for bread sticks that has been floating around Pinterest lately. The bread sticks caught my eye because they are LONG and look so cool served vertically in a glass. I HAD to do that! Looking through my things, I came upon a black polka dot apothecary jar which I have used for pasta, candy, cotton balls…Perfect!
This further inspired me to pull black & white pieces, polka dot pieces and a theme and color scheme started to emerge…
I remembered my red polka dot Christmas table runner and got out my red polka dot casserole and a large black and white bowl which would be perfect for one of the salads. I began to set up the buffet, starting from right and moving down the island towards the left and then with full plates the guests can just head on into the dining room.
I put some cutting boards out to serve as trivets for the hot dishes and just had fun stacking some bowls for decorative touches.
The small cake dome held some chocolate cashew bars [see August 9 post] that guests could help themselves to after dinner.
Everything was all set so I decided to get started on the breadsticks, I couldn’t wait to put them in that polka dot jar!
Oh yeah, did I mention that the bread sticks were made out of Puff Pastry? Yum, should be so easy. First flour the work surface so that sticky tricky pastry doesn’t stick. And, here’s where I deviated from the recipe. Really, after the very first step. I just can’t seem to follow orders, I really can’t. Plus, I’m always looking for shortcuts…[yes, translate that to lazy]. The recipe I had [stonegableblog.com] described a laborious process of dragging each strip through a plate of an herb & cheese mixture, one at a time, after carefully cutting the strips of dough…
Shoot, why not just throw the stuff on the cutting board, lay the dough on top, sprinkle some more stuff on the dough and cut it. DONE. Which is what I did and it worked out quite well!
After I spread the flour around the board I sprinkled Parmesan cheese, dried Italian seasoning, black sesame seeds and sea salt evenly over the floured area. Then I topped this with a thawed puff pastry sheet.
Then I repeated the sprinkling process on the top of the dough and very gently rolled the dough to help the seasonings adhere, but not hard enough for the dough to be hard to remove from the board.
Now cut this into about 12 strips, using a knife, pizza wheel or whatever you have.
I have this wonky little cutter wheel thingy that leaves a scalloped edge, but you’ll never see the edge once the pastry bakes. It’s just fun to use. I have had it FOREVER, I think the pioneers used it, maybe even cavemen. It really is old…maybe a valuable antique…nahhh
Okay now take each strip and gently twist and lay out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat
and then they are ready to bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
Here’s the recipe:
Parmesan Sesame Puff Pastry Sticks for a printable version click here
Ingredients
- 1 box Puff Pastry [2 sheets] thawed in refrigerator
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Dried Italian seasoning
- Sea salt or Kosher salt
- black or white sesame seeds
- flour for board
Instructions
- Flour the prep area on cutting board or work surface.
- Sprinkle floured surface liberally and evenly with Parmesan, herbs, salt and sesame seeds.
- Lay one sheet of dough on top of cheese mixture.
- Repeat sprinkling process on top side of dough.
- With a rolling pin gently press seasonings into dough, being careful not to use to much pressure or the dough will stick. Cut dough into 12 strips.
- Remove strips to a baking pan lined with parchment or a silpat, gently twisting dough strips.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool. Repeat with 2nd pastry sheet or freeze it for another time.
- Each sheet makes 12 sticks. Serve upright in cute vase, glass or jar.
Notes
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I’d like to skip dinner and eat your entire jar of puff pastry sticks 🙂 Genius to add your seasonings and parm to the board! Love your polka dot collection, especially that cute rooster!