Smoked salmon, potato, cheese loaf and cheese bites スモークサーモン、ポテト、チーズローフ

We had some leftover cooked spinach, mashed potatoes and a small amount of smoked salmon so my wife came up with this. It is a combination of several recipes; "egg and smoked salmon in puff pastry", "spinach cheese loaf"and mashed potatoes with cream cheese and chives. The egg and smoked salmon recipe inspired the use of smoked salmon. The spinach cheese loaf was the basis for the center cheese and spinach layer. The mashed potato layer was a variation of gnocchi.

The layers are shown here from the bottom, the smoked salmon, cheeses mixture and mashed potato encased in puff pastry..

Since the cheese filling was too much for the loaf, my wife put the excess into small muffin tins with a small piece of smoked salmon on the  bottom to make little cheese bites (shown below).  They came out very nicely.

Without pastry shell and potato, these by themselves were quite a good small bite.

Ingredients:
1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed
1 cup mashed potato with cream cheese with chives
Smoked salmon, enough to cover 1/2 of the puff pastry (or whatever amount available)
6 oz. double Gloucester cheese grated (original recipe calls for Mozzarella, we did not have it).
block of feta cheese, crumbled (or to taste).
10 oz. ricotta cheese
One bag spinach (or whatever available) cooked without adding any liquid, excess moisture squeezed and finely chopped.
red pepper flakes (optional)
3 eggs (2 for cheese layer 1 for potato layer)

Directions:
On a piece of parchment paper roll out the puff pastry. Combine the cheeses and the spinach (#1). Stir in the 2 eggs (#2). Put the mashed potatoes in a bowl. Stir in the egg. Add enough flour so the spinach has the consistency of gnocchi i.e. has a firm consistency and is not runny.

Assembly: Lay the smoked salmon on 1/2 of the puff pastry. Spread the cheese and spinach layer on top (#4). Spread the potato layer on top of the cheese (#5). Fold the other half of puff pastry over the half with the cheese mixture. Seal the edges with some water and press with a fork. Dock the pastry with the tines of the fork (#6). Transfer the puff pastry on the parchment paper to a baking sheet. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Directions for the cheese bites
Since there was too much cheese stuffing to go into the puff pastry my wife used it to make little cheese bites. She greased a tin for mini muffins. Put a small piece of salmon in the bottom of the cup and scooped in enough filling to fill the tin. She baked these with the puff pastry loaf at 425 for about 18 minutes. When they came out of the oven the cheese stuck to the side of the tin. She used a spatula to loosen the edges while the cheese was still hot. Luckily because of the salmon on the bottom the little bites just fell out when the tin was inverted and tapped gently on the counter top.

This was a very good variation on the "cheese-in-puff-pastry" theme. The salmon gave a salty smokiness. The ricotta spinach feta combo is always winning. The layer of gnocchi like potato on the top was a lovely surprise. The cream cheese chive flavor really came through and smooth texture of the potatoes was a nice contrast to the somewhat firmer texture of the cheese layer. The little cheese bites were also very good. Again the salmon added it characteristic salty smokiness, the cheese layer was very good but it was different from the cheese layer in the puff pastry loaf made with the same ingredients. The outside of the cheese had gotten toasted in the mini muffin tins so it was somewhat crunchy and the flavor of the toasted portion was somewhat deeper than the un-toasted portion. It made a very satisfying single mouthful. These would definitely be worth making in their own right.