Dinner is served! Or perhaps brunch. Honestly, it doesn’t matter when you serve these Easy Ham and Leek Turnovers. They’re delicious straight out of the oven or served with a little stone ground mustard or horseradish cream on the side.
Are you having one of those days when you don’t want to go out, but you also don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen either? If you still desire a semi-homemade dinner and have 30 minutes, this recipe for Easy Ham and Leek Turnovers is a great option.
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There’s no shame in using prepared dough in this recipe for Easy Ham and Leek Turnovers
I’ve been known to make puff pastry from scratch. It’s far better than store bought, but let’s just agree that it’s quite a process. At certain times of the year I will have an assortment of dough in my freezer – cookie, pie, puff, etc. But sometimes, I just don’t have the time or energy for it. Enter prepared dough!
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with blending fresh with frozen, or prepared foods with scratch-cooking. Now throw off any remnants of guilt you might still be holding onto, and go forth and conquer in the kitchen!
A delicious gluten free option
Like my appetizer recipe for Coconut Curry Puffs, these Easy Ham and Leek Turnovers can be made with a gluten free puff pastry dough as well. There are a lot of great gluten free products on the market right now. Schär Puff Pastry Dough is my go-to brand when I want to make these for my gluten free friends.
However, there is one caveat to using the gluten free puff pastry dough. I find it is more crumbly and less forgiving to work with. For this reason, I will bake them in a muffin tin instead of rectangular pockets. If you want to try the gluten free recommendation, follow steps 1-3. When you get to step 4, instead of assembling the puffs into rectangles and brushing them with egg wash, place the gluten free puff pastry sheets in a muffin pan and skip the egg wash step.
The regular puff pastry pockets bake for 20 – 22 minutes at 400 degrees F. The gluten free pastry cups are also baked at 400 degrees F; however, they only need between 12 – 15 minutes in the oven. No two ovens are the same. Some run hotter than others, so keep an eye on them and adjust the bake time as needed.
Using this method, two sheets of gluten free dough will yield approximately 18 cups. And although they won’t be quite as large and portable as their rectangular cousins, they will be just as delicious.
What else can you serve with these Easy Ham and Leek Turnovers?
If you plan to serve these turnovers as an entree, a good, stone ground mustard or horseradish cream pair nicely with the ham and leeks. However, if you’re looking to build out your menu, a light fruit salad or leafy greens salad is a good choice as well.
If you reduce the size and prepare them as muffin cups as noted above, they make a great appetizer or addition to a charcuterie board. The filling and the dough will really lend itself to just about any shape and size, so don’t hesitate to experiment.
Raise your hand if you love hand pies
This past year, I’ve found myself on an interesting food kick. I’m all about hand pies or things you can eat without utensils. I want things I can hold in my hand and nosh on while walking around my yard looking at flowers.
I love a good portable lunch – something I can throw in my pocket when I go for a long walk on Lake Michigan’s beach and nibble on while I sit in the sand watching the waves and the boats go by. And I want something I can eat relatively quickly before the sea gulls notice I have food.
I suppose that’s another reason I like these Ham and Leek Turnovers so much. They’re an easy, portable brunch or lunch that really satisfy.
Easy Ham and Leek Turnovers
Course: MainCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy6
servings30
minutes22
minutesIngredients
2 sheets prepared Puff Pastry, thawed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup leeks, cleaned, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 cup Fontina cheese, shredded
1/2 cup cooked ham, cubed
1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
A generous pinch of ground black pepper
A generous pinch of kosher salt
1 egg, beaten
Stone ground mustard, optional
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium-size saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the leeks until they become soft and just start to caramelize – approximately 5 – 7 minutes. Add the thyme, salt and pepper and stir to incorporate. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- While the leeks are cooling, unfold the puff pastry and brush off any extra flour. Following the folds of the pastry, cut the dough into three columns. Then cut the dough columns in half across the middle. You should have six rectangles of dough per sheet for a total of 12 rectangles (six tops and six bottoms).
- In the center of the six bottoms evenly distribute the ham, followed by a layer of leeks and top with the Fontina cheese.
- Brush the edges of the dough bottoms with the egg wash. Place the top layer of puff pastry on top of the bottoms and gently press the dough in place. Use a fork to crimp the edges of the dough together.
- Poke three holes in the top of the pastry and brush with egg wash.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 – 22 minutes until the dough has puffed up and is golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving. The filling will still be very hot so be careful. Serve with a good stone ground mustard if desired.
