These parcels take 25 minutes if you have frozen pastry on hand. What makes them good is the shatteringly crisp shell around sweet asparagus and melting cheese. The pastry is the difficulty, as it softens and turns sticky with too much handling.
The trick is to set each square on its own piece of baking paper and move it by the paper rather than lifting the pastry. Fold the parcels like envelopes, then brush melted butter over the tops.
This batch weighs about 767g, at roughly 260 calories per 100g.
Method
Melt 30g of unsalted butter and set it aside for brushing.
Peel about 300g of asparagus, snap off the woody ends and cut the spears into even lengths, keeping them slightly long as they shrink in the oven.
Unroll the puff pastry and cut it into 4 large squares, setting each square on its own piece of baking paper for easy handling.
Lay 8 slices of steamed ham over the pastry, then 4 slices of cheese, then arrange the asparagus over the cheese.
Fold each square like an envelope.
Brush the melted butter over the tops.
Gently transfer the parcels to an air fryer basket or baking tray and bake at 180C for 7 to 10 minutes until golden.
Let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes so the pastry crisps up.
Tips
Frozen puff pastry, the dough built from many thin stacked layers, is sold at baking supply shops and larger supermarkets.
Keep the asparagus in long pieces, as it shrinks considerably in the oven.
A fried egg and a spoonful of Lean Mayo alongside suits these well.
Let them rest 5 to 10 minutes before eating, as pastry straight from the oven has not crisped yet.
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