FINAL Puff-Pastry-Related-Post of 2008!

This post is all about laziness. My love of fancy garnishes on otherwise simple food comes from being too lazy to spend five hours on a single dish. Thusly, my love of puff pastry is directly derivative of my love of all things quick, pretty, impressive, savory and flaky. As of late, it's become my fancy-food crutch, and I promise this will be the last post about it this year.

But until then...

We're heading to a friend's party on Saturday, and she's asked me to bring an appetizer. Now, because it's going to be cold, and there will be an equal number of men and women, I need to make something semi-hearty yet pretty. That means it's time for my Carmelized Shallot/Proscuitto/Bleu Cheese Puff Pastry Squares. Name them whatever you wish, but do this:

Preheat your oven to 350.

Thaw out your puff pastry sheets (you get two per box). Roll them a bit with a dough roller, making them about 1/3 larger. Using a pizza cutter, slice bite-size squares.

Spray a couple cookie sheets with something greasy (i.e. olive oil), place the squares an inch apart and bake for ten minutes.

While the pastry bakes, thinly slice about five to ten shallots, depending on how big they are. You're going to need enough to sprinkle on all the squares. Dump them in a skillet and cook on high heat, until the edges brown.

Tear a package or two of proscuitto into very small pieces. Don't try cutting proscuitto unless you want to spend valuable cocktail time pulling the slices apart with tweezers.

Sprinkle the proscuitto and shallots on the squares and top with crumbled bleu cheese. Chop some flat-leaf parsley and put it in a zip-top bag. Cover cookie sheets with cling wrap and take them to the party! Throw them in the host's oven for 10-15 minutes, sprinkle with the parsley and serve! Accept compliments graciously.