Olive straws

You're hosting a last minute party and are bored of the same old chips and dip and samosa's from the halwai, but have no great kitchen skills to speak of ? Sound familiar? Yeah, we've all been there! Or you want something nice and fresh from the oven, but have neither the patience nor the time?

Puff Pastry! The answer to all of your kitchen troubles! Well, ok ..some of.

Have a load of frozen puff pastry in the freezer - and surely something good will come out of your oven. I guarantee :-)

I mean what is puff pastry - flour and butter. Loads of butter! So much butter that you can't really go wrong with it !

So for this quick snack - get some puff pastry, a bit of all purpose flour (maida), a bit of milk or beaten egg to brush and olives. Just get your choice of olives - green, black, pitted,stuffed -whatever you like.

Roll out a pastry sheet using a bit of flour for dusting, and lay the olives in multiple rows.

Brush a bit of milk/beaten egg in between the rows of olives and along the edges. You could also dip your fingers in milk and sweep them across the empty areas of the pastry sheet.

Cover with another pastry sheet.

Cut across the covered pastry sheet

Umm..is it all sounding too complicated? Just watch this video from Martha Stewart. I forgot to take the pictures while assembling the dish. So its easier with a video I'm sure.

http://www.marthastewart.com/317674/olive-straws

I prefer using pitted olives without any stuffing - simply because they create a smaller bump. While using big fat stuffed olives, the end result looks a bit like ...i dunno..eyes popping out or something..which is not very appetizing for me :))

Anyways, bake the dish at 425 degrees F(218 C) for just about 5 to 6 minutes.

The best thing about this recipe is that it hardly takes about 5-6 minutes to bake. So once you are done with the assembling, (and please do the assembling on the tray you will use in the oven), you can keep the tray in the fridge and bake the dish right in front of your guests. Just do not put the tray in a cold oven. Pre-heat it so the oven is ready for the baking.

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