Mushroom, Asparagus & Blue Cheese Bundles

A few weeks ago I was reading a food magazine which was focusing on leftovers for the upcoming Thanksgiving meal.  It got me thinking about how we use leftovers at our house.  We have been really good at it lately.  Sort of pat on the back good at it with a little we might not even grocery shop this week good at it.  Some of our best meals have been from leftovers.  We use our leftover crusty bread to make breadcrumbs (toss them into a food processor, coat in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and crisp up in a frying pan).  This can be used on salads or in pasta.  We use our last drops of wine to make ice cubes to throw into sauces.  We always use the chicken carcass to make stock.  It is a great way to use what we would have once thrown out and makes us feel like we are really getting the most for the money we spent on the groceries.  Today we had mushrooms, part of an onion, a few stalks of asparagus, a small handful of blue cheese and one box of puff pastry.  You know how we love our puff pastry.  You can do amazing things with it.  I had thought I’d use the asparagus for a soup but realized I had enough to use the stalks for the soup and the tips for this lunch.  Talk about using your leftovers!

This was (as most of these things are) super simple.  The asparagus, mushrooms and onion were chopped, drizzled with olive oil and then sautéed with a sprinkle of salt and a good spoonful of mustard until it was all soft.

The puff pastry was brought to room temperature (about twenty minutes) and rolled out.  Five circles were cut using a 4″ cutter and five more were cut using a 5″ cutter.  The smaller circles were placed on a board and the mushroom mixture was spooned on.  A few pieces of crumbled blue cheese were added to the top before the sides were brushed with an egg wash.  The larger circle was then placed on top of the smaller one and the edges pinched with a fork.  We had extra pastry so we cut little acorns to top the circles.  These were baked at 420 f. for about fifteen minutes or until golden brown.

This did not feel like a leftover lunch.  It was cute and full of flavor.  And so, so easy.  So next time you think you have nothing left in the house to eat….look again.  You might be glad you did.