PREBIOTIC PASTRY ROLLS

I made these rather delicious wee pastry rolls for lunch last week, using some puff pastry I had in the freezer, which conveniently is vegan!

My thoughts are always on how I can nourish my wee gut bugs and enjoy delicious food at the same time.

Now we all know that puff pastry isn't very healthy and even less so when filled with a greasy assortment of dodgy ingredients so my delicious gut healthy version is harnessing all the prebiotic power of leeks, red onions, spinach, garlic, courgette and chick peas. I also added some cubed vegan feta cheese which we are all loving, its so creamy and delicious!

Adding great flavour and polyphenols with lemon zest, flat leaf parsley and thyme from the garden.

A wee extra garnish of sesame, poppy and linseeds makes these look most appealing and of course, adds more nutrition!

So its not that difficult to make better choices for our health and keep our wee gut microbes well nourished, so they will be working hard on our behalf.

We all enjoyed these, so I am sharing my recipe, so you can enjoy them too!

We just love a puff pastry but no-one wants a soggy bottom so the key thing to remember is to make sure your filling is fairly dry and cool it a bit before you make up your wee rolls.
You don't need to add the vegan feta, some frozen sweetcorn or peas would also be good to bulk the filling out and could easily replace the courgette. Just use what you have available!

I am sure these would be equally good eaten cold for a picnic lunch but we ate the lot straight from the oven!

So here is my recipe, hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

• 1 pack of ready made puff pastry
• 2 to 3 medium leeks, washed, halved lengthways and sliced
• 1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
• 1 medium red or white onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 1/2 bag of baby leaf spinach
• 1 courgette, grated
• 1 tin chickpeas, drained
• 100g vegan feta, cut into small cubes (optional)
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons fresh herbs, flat leaf parsley, sage, oregano, thyme or rosemary
• couple tablespoons plant milk
• 1 tsp linseeds, 1tsp chia seeds, 1 tsp sesame seeds

Method

1. Heat a tablespoon of rapeseed oil in a large pan, with a pinch of salt, add the leeks and onions and cook gently for 10 minutes until soft and sweet.
2. Add the grated courgette, garlic, spinach and cook for another 5 minutes or so then add the drained chickpeas.
3. If your mixture is wet then drain any excess liquid, then transfer to a large bowl.
4. Add the chopped herbs, lemon zest and some sea salt and black pepper.
5. Add the cubed feta, if using.
6. Leave the filling aside to cool
7. Heat the oven to 220C
8. Unroll the puff pastry onto a floured surface, then cut in half lengthways so you have 2 long thin rectangles.
9. If you are using a block of puff pastry, then you will have to roll it out into a thin rectangle, then cut it into 2.
10. With the long side toward you, spoon half your filling mixture along the middle of the rectangle, shaping it into a sausage shape with your hands.
11. Brush the far away edge of the pastry with some plant milk.
12. Pull the near side of the pastry over the filling, then carefully pull the milk washed side on top and press it to seal.
13. Carefully turn the whole thing over so the join is at the bottom, then cut the roll into 6 or 8 equal pieces.
14. Repeat with the other rectangle.
15. Put the rolls onto a lightly greased baking tray, brush with plant milk and sprinkle with the seed mix.
16. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
17. You may have to turn the tray halfway through for even baking, if your oven has a hotspot.
18. Enjoy.