Madhouse recipe : Black Olive, Anchovy & Tomato Parcels

The trouble with being a foodie blogger is that you end up with loads of things in your fridge that you would never usually buy so you don't really know what to do with them. I was finding it hard to fit everything in the fridge when I was putting the shopping away this week so I decided to have a bit of a stocktake. The entire top shelf of my fridge is taken up with half-used jars of jams, pickles, mustards and other condiments. I can also spot things that have arrived in foodie boxes such as energy drinks, fermented tea, coconut curry sauce, coconut water, chilli mango sauce ... again, all things that I would never usually buy and they've been hogging fridge space for months while we wait to see if anyone will eat/drink them ! #KitchenClearout started out as a reaction to things falling out of the baking cupboard every time I opened it, but I'm now moving on to my spice rack and fridge !

This recipe used up the end of a jar of black olive cream and also a jar of anchovies. Now, I thought I hated anchovies but I've only ever eaten them on pizzas when they're all dried out and horribly salty. These ones were in oil and they were moist and packed with flavour. As the black olive cream is also quite salty, I decided it needed some sweet tomatoes to even things out and it was actually worked really well.

Black Olive, Anchovy & Tomato Parcels

ingredients :

1 ready-made puff pastry sheet

4tbsp black olive cream (you could just used sliced olives or even pesto, whatever needs using up)

3 tomatoes

a small jar of anchovies

a handful of fresh basil

grated cheddar

a splash of milk (for brushing on the pastry)

Roll out the puff pastry sheet. Spread with black olive cream (or sliced black olives or pesto - whatever needs using up).

Lay a row of tomato slices down the middle.

Scatter with a generous handful of basil leaves. (On the subject of which, I have loads of tiny greenfly on my indoor basil plant - any idea what to do to get rid of them, bearing in mind we'll be eating the leaves?)

Sprinkle with grated cheese and lay the anchovies on top.

Fold both edges of the pastry to the middle and press down to seal. Score with a knife to make a pretty pattern if you wish.

Brush with a little milk or egg to give it a deeper golden colour. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown and flaky.

I managed to clear out two jars - black olive cream and anchovies - so I'm linking up with this month's #KitchenClearout linky.