Mistletoe puff pastry appetizer with chard and buffalo mozzarella

Still digging into Frazer’s “Golden Bough” to understand why mistletoe is one of the symbols of this season.

“…Thus among the Celts of Gaul the Druids esteemed nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the oak on which it grew…”

“…Now, like fern-seed, the mistletoe is gathered either at Midsummer or at Christmas that is, either at the summer or at the winter solstice and, like fern-seed, it is supposed to possess the power of revealing treasures in the earth… The treasure-seeker places the rod on the ground after sundown, and when it rests directly over treasure, the rod begins to move as if it were alive. Now, if the mistletoe discovers gold, it must be in its character of the Golden Bough; and if it is gathered at the solstices, must not the Golden Bough, like the golden fern-seed, be an emanation of the sun’s fire?”

So what would be better than an appetizer in the shape of mistletoe to celebrate the slowly rebirth of the sun after longest night of the year hoping that those tasty leaves will help us to find the treasures of the coming year.

Savory puff pastry filled with a mix of chard (or spinach) and then arranged into a mistletoe branch makes the perfect appetizer this holiday season.

INGREDIENTS

Serve 6 persons

• 2 sheets (40 x 35 cm) of real butter puff pastry
• 250 gr of boiled and drained chard or spinach
• 100 gr of buffalo mozzarella
• salt
• natural (vegetal) green food coloring
• 1 egg white
• 3 tidbit buffalo mozzarella balls

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Sprinkle a little flour on top of a sheet of parchment paper.
• Unfold one sheet of puff pastry on top of the parchment paper.
• With the help of a blander, mix the chard and the mozzarella (you can season as you please but the natural flavor is exalted by the butter in the puff pastry, so I preferred to add only some salt)
• Spread the chard sauce on top of the puff pastry sheet being careful not to go too close to the edge.
• Place the second sheet of puff pastry on top of the first sheet of puff pastry that has the chard sauce. Press gently to seal the two sheets together.
• I cut the leaves without a template, because I liked them a bit irregular but you can download a template from the internet.
• Now that you cut the leaves you have to slice them to simulate the veins on a leaf.
• Starting on one side, make horizontal slices into the sides of the leaf being careful to stop before you reach the center.
• Repeat the same process on the other side each leaf; again being careful to stop before reaching the center.
• Starting at the bottom, twist the veins away from you.
• Continue twisting the veins moving up the tree and then move on to the other side and twist those veins as well.
• Mix the egg white with some green food color a brush all the three leaves
• Bake in the preheated oven until puffy and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Arrange your mistletoe leaves on to a serving platter with three tidbit mozzarella ball to create the fruit effect.

NOTES: You can use Nutella Spread and strawberry or grape to make this a dessert.