Martinique’s holiday “petits fours”

Happy Holidays to all and of on an upbeat note for 2015, never give up! I have been wanting to make this recipe since last Christimas, since it is for an appetizer served around that period in Martinique and only got to it a few months later in February and it was definitely worth it. The pâtés looked like I had achieved something or won a prize or both and I certainly felt that way. Indeed, I am usually wary of recipes requiring doughs, because I think that successfully mastering one takes a level of expertise that I don’t necessarily have. So sure, I struggled, trying to make the shape out of my store-bought dough, but I had a lot of fun making the filling and tasting it. All in all, a rewarding experience for a tasty and light tropical appetizer.

Pates de noel from Martinique Recipe

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Serves	20
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	15 minutes
Total time	35 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2lb puff pastry dough
1/2lb ground pork
1/2 lemon (juiced)
1 onion
4 chives
3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
1 bay leaf
1 lime
1 scotch bonnet pepper (deseeded, finely chopped)
2 whole cloves
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg yolk
salt, pepper

Directions

1.	Prepare the pork stuffing.Pour the lemon juice into the raw ground pork .
2.	In a pan, heat the oil and fry the chives , onion , garlic, chili, cloves and finely chopped bay leaf . Add the pork and cook for about 10 minutes . Salt and pepper. Allow to cool.
3.	Preheat oven to 180 ° C. Beat the egg yolk aside. Unroll the puff pastry .
4.	Using a cookie cutter or an inverted glass , cut out rounds. Put 1 teaspoon of meat filling in the middle of a circle. Put some yolk on the edges. Cover with a second round of dough. Press your fingertips to seal the edges .
5.	Place each patty on a buttered and floured baking sheet or on parchment paper. Brush the with egg yolk . Bake immediately for 15-20 minutes.
6.	Serve warm as an appetizer. In Martinique, these are traditionally eaten at Christmas.