When you’ve got a lot of hurdles to overcome with kids meals – vegan, fussy, not much time to prepare and haven’t been to the shops?
These handy pinwheel pastries are the quickest to make and super tasty. The two main ingredients are (ready rolled) puff pastry and some kind of sauce.
It seems most high street supermarkets stock their own brand or a well known brand of puff pastry which is joyfully – accidentally vegan! It has a pretty decent shelf life on it and can also be frozen, so it’s easy to always have at home. I generally use a ready made pesto sauce (again vegan options are in most supermarkets and have a long shelf life) but also sometimes make my own and batch freeze so this can also be used for the pinwheels.
The additional fillings are child dependent and what they like. I think spinach is a great one to include as it gets hidden in the wheels and is a perfect vegetable that can roll. Other vegetable that work well are sweetcorn and grated carrot. For a boost in benefits add in sprinkles of seeds, chia or even yeast flakes.
We also love a scattering of cheese over the pastry and toppings before we roll.
It is all very dependent on what you know your child likes, what you can hide and what you experiment with. Just have fun and its a great one for involving the kids in the making and baking – it s proven that kids are more likely to try a food they have helped to make!
This a great meal to batch cook as they can freeze. Freeze in pairs per bag so you can just defrost a couple at a time.
INGREDIENTS
Ready rolled puff pastry sheet (always check the ingredients but most are vegan) // Pesto or tomato sauce or similar // Mix of vegetables that are soft and can be rolled // vegan cheese (optional)
METHOD
Unwrap your ready made puff pastry sheet. The paper it comes on can be used a the baking paper.
Pre-heat the oven to 180c
Lay out your pastry sheet on its paper, on a baking tray
Spread your chosen sauce over the pastry leaving about 1cm around the edge
Put spinach first and then any other vegetables evenly over the pastry. Spread out thin and not in clumps as this will make harder to roll. Sprinkle over any extras – cheese, yeast, seeds…
Roll carefully and reasonably tight, starting from the short edge of the pastry.
Once it is in a complete roll, gently (with a very sharp knife) cut into approximately 1.5cm pieces and lay them flat out with plenty of space in between, on your baking tray.
Bake for around 20 minutes or once golden and crispy. Time will vary depending on size and filling, so keep an eye on them.
Once baked, cool and serve.
These will keep in the fridge for a few days but can also be frozen!
These aren’t just for the kids – try with all sorts of flavours for the grown ups too. Perfect for easy meals, lunch boxes and picnics.
THE LOCAL VEGAN 