Cured Italian mortadella, which often comes studded with slivers of crunchy pistachios, makes a delicious and attractive topping, but you can also use the nut-free variety, or swap it for any other finely sliced cured meat you like. Top with jarredpeppers instead if you’recatering for vegetarians(and check your creamcheese is veggie-friendly).
ready-rolled puff pastry sheet, at room temperature
1
medium egg, beaten
300g
garlic and herb cream cheese
200g
pitted and finely sliced green olives, we used Nocellara
100g
sliced mortadella
Directions
Step 1Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan) mark 7. Unroll
the pastry on to a large
baking sheet (leaving it
on its baking parchment)
and lightly brush with
beaten egg (reserve
excess). Score a border
about 1.5cm in from the
edge (making sure not to
cut all the way through the
pastry). Prick the area
inside the border all over
with a fork. Cook for
10min, until lightly golden.
Step 2Meanwhile, in a medium
bowl, whisk the cream
cheese and remaining
beaten egg together
until smooth. Add
most of the olives
(reserve a handful
to garnish) and stir in.
Step 3Remove pastry from oven
and reduce temperature to
200°C (180°C fan) mark 6.
Using a spoon, gently press
down the centre of the
pastry (inside the border).
Gently spread the filling
inside the border. Return
to the oven for 10-15min
until the pastry is crisp and
the filling lightly set.
Step 4Loosely pile the
mortadella on top of the
filling, scatter over the
reserved sliced olives
and serve with a green
salad, if liked.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
