One of my great friends is visiting from Jordan at the moment and it is such a treat to be able to catch up with her over brunch!  Whilst Jordan has delicious food, two things that are relatively hard to get out there are blue cheese and ham.  So with that in mind that I thought it would be nice to whip up a quick brunch containing both of these things.

This recipe is really very quick and easy and can be easily adapted according to your own tastes.  There is no need to pre-cook any of the ingredients, so it is really a case of putting the filling on the croissant dough and folding them up into a little parcel before putting them into the oven to bake.

Now, if you really want to go the whole hog you can make your own croissant pastry, but in my view life is too short so I tend to stick with pre-made dough.  One word of advice in relation to making this recipe is make sure that you seal the edges of the pastry as best as you can by pinching the dough together as this will help prevent the cheese oozing out of the croissant whilst it cooks! Enjoy!

Savoury Croissants
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 packet jus-rol croissant dough
• 6 slices Serrano ham
• 150g Castello creamy blue cheese or equivalent (cut into 12 small wedges)
• 6 asparagus stalks
• ½ a pear (de-cored and cut into 6 thin slices)
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme

Steps:

1. Preheat oven 200°C and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
2. Unroll the dough, cut out the individual croissants and place on the baking tray.
3. Place a piece of the Serrano ham and two slices of the cheese on each piece of dough roughly in the centre.
4. Prepare the asparagus by snapping the tough ends off and then cutting stalk into three pieces and place on top of the ham.
5.  Finally add the pear before folding the pastry up into a small rectangular parcel.
6. Brush each croissant with egg wash and sprinkle over the fresh thyme leaves.
7. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.