Cheese, tomato & olive pastries - recipe

These scrumptious pastries are so delicious and use some of our very favorite ingredients. They also use one of my favorite convenience food shortcuts - ready made crescent dough.

They are light and flaky; almost like individual pies or pasties. They are very easy to make and look as great as they taste.

They can be made quickly too - preparation time is just a few minutes - no initial cooking - and then these Danish pastry lookalikes bake in the oven for about twelve minutes. So quick and easy!

Only once did we manage to have a few of these cold - we usually gobble them up as soon as they're ready - and they are just as tasty. This makes them ideal for parties where you have to cook ahead. They're also lovely served as an appetizer before the main meal.

As vegetarians, we have these for dinner - four each, this recipe makes eight individual pinwheels. This means that they are very economical too - another fact I always appreciate. The ready made dough keeps for several weeks in the fridge and the other ingredients are items that I usually keep in stock. So I can rustle up a batch of these if we have unexpected guests or if I need to make dinner in a hurry.

The ingredients you see above make about eight pinwheel pastries. As you can see, the only fresh ingredients are the tomato and a sprig of fresh basil. I'm so glad that I have basil growing because it gives a freshness and delicious flavor to so many of my 'from the cupboard' recipes.

• 1 tube ready-to bake crescent dough
• 1 tomato
• A handful of black olives - these are from a jar
• 3oz. cheese. You can use more; I keep the calorie count down but more makes these even more yummy
• 1 heaped teaspoon mustard. We like the grainy versions
• Freshly-ground black pepper

HEAT THE OVEN

Preheat to 350°.

THE VEGETABLES

Simply chop the tomatoes and olives together on a chopping board. Sprinkle with black pepper (we like lots) and mix them together with the knife. There's no need to use a bowl - just mix them together right there on the board. (I like recipes that make doing the dishes simpler).

CHEESE

All you need to do with the cheese is shred it using a medium grater.

CRESCENT DOUGH

Flour a board and form the dough into a rectangle. There's no need to use a rolling pin - I do this with the heel of my hand (avoiding clean up again). The board I use is about 13x6 but you can have the dough a little thinner if you wish. There's no need to worry about it being a perfect rectangle.

ROLL

Take one of the shorter ends of the rectangle and roll the dough into a fat sausage shape. Do this slowly so that the filling remains in place. A few pieces of tomato might fall out - just put them back in.

SLICE THE 'SAUSAGE'

Cut the 'sausage' into eight slices. I use a bread knife to do this. Leaving each slice on the board, use your hand to rotate the slices at the edges - this forms them into circles. Place these circles onto a baking tin or cookie sheet - there's no need to grease or flour it - and put in the oven for about twelve minutes or until the pastry is golden and the cheese is bubbling.

Stuck for vegetarian recipe ideas? I especially like recipes that are quick - we all seem to be in such a hurry these days and don't have leisurely hours to simmer this and sauté that. Here are some great ideas for making meat-free meals - fast.

All images © BritFlorida.