Prosciutto & honey mustard palmiers

This is a late instalment of fingerfood that I made for a picnic concert back in August. It's the second time I made them and I must say, I liked them better the first time round, but I forgot to take a picture then - so the recipe below is for the original (very yummy version) and the picture is the recent one.
With a recipe as simple as this, you might wonder how this could not succeed last time round - but as always, the secret lies in the ingredients. Keen to use up open jars and bags in my food cupboard, I wasn't going to buy honey specifically for the use in these palmiers - and that's where I got it all wrong. The honey I used is a thyme honey from New Zealand, which tastes gorgeous with your cheese platter and on some crispy rye bread with butter. In this combination with the parma ham and mustard however, it was simply too powerful, completely covering up all the humble flavours of salt-cured parma and the parmesan.
But I do like to serve these palmiers, they're very versatile and I am going to try different combinations - maybe some blue cheese & walnut paste or pesto & parmesan or basil & tomato... and they're simple to make, can be prepared up to three days in advance or even frozen on the baking sheet and then baked from frozen while you entertain your guests - finger food doesn't come much more carefree than that!

Prosciutto & honey mustard palmiers*
(makes ca. 30)

1 pack ready-rolled puff pastry (375 g)
125 g prosciutto slices (VERY thin)
1 tbsp thyme leaves (finely chopped)
3 tbsp dijon mustard
4 tbsp runny honey
4 tbsp grated parmesan
1 egg yolks

Make sure that the puff pastry is at room temperature when you start out. Cut the puff pastry in half lengthwise, to produce 2 pieces of ca. 30 x 10 cm).
Combine the mustard, honey and thyme leaves in a bowl and make a smooth paste. Spread on the pastry, then cover with the prosciutto slices. Sprinkle with parmesan, then carefully roll up the palmiers. To do this, fold the edges of the pastry (lengthwise) over by about 1 cm on either side, then repeat until the two ends meet in the middle. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Take the rolls out of the freezer, unwrap and cut them into thin slices, no more than 1 cm thick. Arrange on a baking tray lined with a non-stick mat or paper, then either freeze until using, or transfer straight to the pre-heated oven. Bake for about 10 minutes at 200 C, or until they're crisp and golden brown. If baking from frozen, add another 5 minutes.
If making in advance, store in airtight containers and reheat for about 3-5 minutes in a warm oven, if you wish, but hey are equally delicious at room temperature.

* Recipe based on Eric Treuille, Canapés, p. 27

Comments

[Stephanie]

Oh, Johanna...Matt would love these. I'm grabbing the recipe right now! They look wonderful...

[Paz]

Thyme honey? Never heard of it before. Very interesting. Too bad it was too powerful for this recipe.

Paz

[johanna]

thyme honey is actually something i picked up at the local supermarket - so readily available, at least here in the UK. Like with so many other "flavoured" honeys, this one is produced by bees which mainly get their nectar from thyme... apparently this honey is very typical of Greece as well, but the one I bought was from NZ.

[Paz]

Very interesting, Joanna. Thanks! I'll look at for it in my supermarket. I'll be very surprised to see it. ;-)

Paz