Having been totally impressed by the Olympic performances out in Rio and the amazing medal haul team GB are bringing back home, Mr E & I marked the games with a Brazilian meal the other day. Now being a little topsy-turvy, I have already shared our dessert, a Quindao (a fabulous coconut dessert using just 4 store cupboard ingredients), on Only Crumbs Remain. Well, I am the sort of girl who, when eating out, often chooses her dessert before her main meal! J
Rest assured though, I do follow convention and enjoy our savoury meal before diving headlong into a dessert 😉
The dish we chose to make for our Brazilian themed meal is Risoles de Palmito. The original recipe translated this as Hearts of Palm Croquettes, but to be honest, to Mr E & I these are more of a pasty rather than a croquette which is why I’ve called them Brazilian Heart of Palm Pasties.
The pasties contain a scrumptious vegetarian filling which not only contains heart of palm but also carrots, tomato, and cream cheese. The dough is easy to make, and although the method resembles a hot water crust pastry the result is far more delicate than rigid. The original recipe sees the shaped pasties coated in breadcrumbs before they’re deep fat fried. As deep frying isn’t a method of cooking I usually carry out and because our usual stock pile of breadcrumbs had been used and not replaced, we decided to oven bake these delicious Brazilian vegetarian pasties. I suspect the traditional egg and breadcrumb coating provides some extra strength to the delicate dough, but our oven baked method resulted in a healthier meal which was easy to pull together. There was no stressing about the fat temperature or any need to keep a vigilant eye on them whilst they cooked.
These pasties really were absolutely delicious. In fact I had intended to photograph them part eaten, but the flavour captivated me so much that before I realised where I was they had been completely devoured! The filling was packed with flavour and was easy to pull together. We served them simply with new potatoes and salad.
About Hearts of Palm
Hearts of palm is a vegetable which I often see during our routine shopping trips whilst down the canned vegetable aisle, but until now we have never tried them. You can buy Green Giant Heart of Palm in most supermarkets, canned and ready to eat. Now, I must admit that at around £2.30 per tin they’re not a cheap buy (sshhhh, Mr E doesn’t know how much they cost!) and that price was explained when I came to read about this unusual vegetable.
If you’re unfamiliar with hearts of palm, as we were, they are white, cylindrical and each piece measures around 10cm long. To me they look a little like the white section of a leek, though much softer and narrower. They are often used in salads, but can also be deep fried, used in soups or filling such as with these Brazilian Hearts of Palm Pasties. As regards to the flavour, it really is quite unique. Some describe it being like artichoke whilst others compare it to water chestnut. However you describe it, they really are very delicious.
Like many foods, hearts of palm can often be referred to by a number of names, such as palmito, palm cabbage, swamp cabbage but the one which made me chuckle and will no doubt be a question in a pub quiz one day, burglars thigh!
Wikipedia explains that hearts of palm are a vegetable which is harvested from the inner core of certain types of palm trees. In order to reach the vegetable, often regarded as a delicacy, the palm tree is cut which clearly results in the death of single stemmed trees! Clearly a controversial and sensitive subject. However Wikipedia goes on to explain that a particular palm tree has been cultivated for the canned hearts of palm. As it is multi stemmed the plant can be harvested for many years without resulting in its death.
In doing my on-line reading about hearts of palm, I came across this You Tube video which shows the stages the plant goes through before it is harvested and prepared for canning. It highlights how much of a delicacy hearts of palm are which explains the relatively high price for just one can.
So, let’s get to it and bake!
print recipe
de Palmito baked rather than deep fried to produce a healthier meal
which is jam-packed with flavour. Lovely served with salad and new potatoes.
Hands on time: 30 mins Cook time: 20 – 25 mins Yield: 8 pasties, sufficient to feed 4 adults
For the pastry dough
- 450ml Water
- 20g Butter
- 1 Vegetable Oxo
- 1.5 tbsp Olive Oil
- 140g Strong White Bread Flour
- 140g Plain Flour, plus extra for rolling out
For the Hearts of Palm Filling
- 20g Butter
- 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 medium Onion, chopped
- 1 Tomato, chopped
- 1 Garlic Clove, crushed
- 1 medium Carrot, chopped
- 220g (drained weight) Hearts of Palm, chopped (1 whole heart reserved for the salad)
- 1 tbsp Corn Flour
- 106ml Milk
- 2 tbsp Cream Cheese
- Pinch Salt
- 1 Egg, lightly beaten
7.Roll out the dough. Divide the pastry into 8 pieces. Roll the pastry into a circle about 3-4mm thick on a well floured work surface. Flour the rolling pin too if necessary. 8. Assemble the pasties. Stir the filling. Place a dessert spoonful of the cold filling onto the dough, off set from the centre. Fold over the dough. Use an up turned large cup/drinking glass to cut the half moon pasty shape, being careful to retain a dough boarder around the filling. Remove the off-cuts of dough. Ensure the pasties are sealed on the joined edge. Repeat until the filling and dough has been used up. 9.Transfer to a baking tray. Carefully transfer the prepared pasties onto a baking tray which has been lined with greased proof paper and liberally floured. 10. Glaze. Use a pastry brush to glaze the upper surface of the pasties with beaten egg. 11. Bake. Place the baking tray into the centre of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. You may need to rotate the tray after 15 minutes of cooking. Remove the cooked pasties from the tray with a fish slice. 12. Enjoy 🙂Notes:
a) Aim not to roll the dough too thinly. b) Try not to stretch the pastry when encasing the filling. c) The pasties can be made smaller providing a greater yield which would be great for a buffet.
This post has been shared with:
Angela
These look wonderful! Thanks for sharing at the Sunday fitness & food link-up…Pinned 🙂
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Thankyou Angela x
Jacqueline Meldrum
I've never cooked or even eaten hearts of palm before so gold star to you and what a way to cook them. Pastry is always a winner in my book. Thanks for entering it into Meat Free Mondays. I featured your recipe and stumbled, pinned & tweeted.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
They were new to use Jacqueline, but i'm really pleased we tried them as they were scrummy 🙂
It's lovely to link up, I ought to make some more savoury meals and link up more frequently 🙂
Thanks for all of that sharing,
Angela x
Sarah James
Wow, what an interesting read Angela as well as another fab recipe. I've never tried hearts of palm before but they sound delicious, what a good idea to oven bake too. By the way, I choose my dessert first too! X
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Hahaha, I'm glad it's not just me who chooses her dessert before the main meal, it's definitely the way to go 🙂 Thank you for your lovely comments Sarah, hearts of palm were a new flavour for me too but we thoroughly enjoyed them – especially in the cream cheese filling alongside the other veggies. I'll certainly use them again, but more as a special treat rather than an everyday thing.
Thanks for popping by and commenting Sarah,
Angela x
Eb Gargano
Ooh these look nice – and quite different. I love how you've made a healthier version of them. I'm fairly sure I've eaten hearts of palm before, but I'm not sure I've ever cooked with them. Thank you for teaching us all about them – I'll have to look out for them in the supermarket in future. Thanks for sharing with #cookblogshare. 🙂 Eb x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Thank you Eb 🙂 Both Mr E & I really enjoyed them when they were cooked with the cream cheese mixture, absolutely scrummy 🙂 You're welcome Eb, I knew absolutely nothing about them until the other day – they're certainly not like the vegetables we classically think of.
Thanks for your lovely comments,
Angela x
Shaheen
Oh liking this and so fantastic that you managed a Rio theme dish, I haven't got round to making anything Brazilian during the Olympics, though I have been following it.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
It was really interesting learning a little about traditional Brazilian foods Shaheen and even more fun eating it 🙂 The games have been amazing haven't they – really impressed by what has been achieved.
Thanks for popping by and commenting,
Angela x
Hannah
Love the Rio themed bakes – what a clever idea! And these look delish.. I've never heard of hearts of palm but I will keep an eye out for them next time I hit the supermarket 🙂 looking forward to Bake Off next week? 😀
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
I've seen them quite a few times whilst in the supermarket and have often wondered what they actually are (though the name of them now make perfect sense – apart from the burgular's thigh name!) so when I came across several traditional Brazilian recipes which use them i knew it was the perfect opportunity to check them out properly. They're absolutely delicious Hannah, although I admit it might take a couple of bites to get used to the flavour if you try them straight from the tin.
Ooh heck yes, I can't wait for GBBO to start. Will you be trying out some of the bakes?
Angela x