15 Minute Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Puff Pastry Squares

This super quick recipe takes only 5 minutes to prep and then 10 minutes in the oven, giving you crispy, golden squares filled with that classically delicious combination of smoked salmon and asparagus. Yum! 

I’d recommend spending a few moments reading the following for useful information and tips on making these 15 minute smoked salmon and asparagus puff pastry squares. If you’d prefer though, skip to the middle of the page for step-by-step instructions or jump to the bottom for quick recipe.

Note that 15 minutes is the approximate time to make this dish after you’ve gathered all of your ingredients. Actual preparation times may vary slightly due to factors like knife skills and how quickly your oven heats up.

Delicious flavours, quick and easy recipe

The classic, traditional smoked salmon and asparagus combination is showcased perfectly in this really quick and easy puff pastry recipe, perfect for any meal or snack. Tangy capers combine with smoky salmon plus smooth and creamy ricotta cheese to make a delicious blend that sits perfectly on top of the crispy puff pastry, which is then finished off by healthy and tasty asparagus. Finally, the sharpness of the lemon juice pairs so brilliantly with the salmon that it’s one of the key flavours in this recipe. Perfect!

Quick cooking hints and tips

One of the keys to making these 15 minute smoked salmon and asparagus puff pastry squares super quickly is the use of ready rolled puff pasty sheets that are available widely in stores these days. They lend themselves brilliantly to quick recipes of both sweet and savoury varieties, which is why you’ll often find them in my recipes, such as in my puff pastry cinnamon and raisin twists.

Just one sheet of ready rolled puff pastry makes a generous 6 squares, enough to feed 6 people as a snack or 3 hungry people as a main meal. All you have to do is unravel the sheet, cut it up and pop the filling on before baking. Simple! It’s just the right thickness also and does not need rolling out any thinner (in fact, it can damage the pastry if you do try and roll it, stopping it puffing up in the oven, so put away that rolling pin!)

Of course, you can make puff pastry from scratch it you prefer but it is notoriously one of the most fiddly, difficult pastry types to make at home and will certainly add a lot of time to your cooking so probably not for anybody seeking to make their food  quickly.

Deliciously creamy ricotta

Ricotta is another key ingredient in these 15 minute smoked salmon and asparagus puff pastry squares. This well loved, soft Italian cheese is perfect for quick cooking. With it’s mellow, subtle flavor it blends well with other ingredients without overshadowing the flavours like other cheeses can sometimes do.

Most importantly, ricotta cheese has the helpful property of retaining its shape and staying nice and solid when cooked, compared with other cheeses that can melt and go greasy and gooey. This means it helps to bind together the other filling ingredients and stops the pastry squares from collapsing or melting onto the baking sheet, making it the perfect soft cheese for faff-free quick cooking.

Deliciously smoky salmon

I am very partial to smoke salmon trimmings – which are essentially just little off-cuts of smoked salmon that are significantly cheaper than the traditional, large slices, making them a very affordable way of buying this fish. I often use them in my cooking such as with my creamy dairy free smoked salmon pasta. They work really well in quick recipes as they’re already chopped which saves you precious preparation time as no cutting is required, meaning all you have to do is open the pack. What could be easier?

If you can’t find smoked salmon trimmings where you live that’s not a problem – you can just use the pre-sliced variety and chop them up into approx. 1-2cm pieces, however this will add a little bit of extra prep time to your recipe of course.

The crowning glory – asparagus

Finally, the elegant asparagus that crowns each pastry square is not only delicious and healthy, it requires virtually no prep work which makes it an ideal ingredient for a quick recipe. All you need to do is chop off the ends to remove the harder bits at the base and to ensure each piece isn’t too long, leaving you with the most tender tip of the spear and also ensuring each one fits snugly on the pastry square. Fantastic!

15 minute smoked salmon and asparagus puff pastry squares– step by step method

Makes 6

STEP BY STEP

1) Start by pre-heating your oven to 220°C / 200 C fan (430 F / 400 F fan)

2) Grab a medium bowl. Pop in 250g (9 oz) of ricotta cheese, 120g (4.5 oz) of smoked salmon trimmings (or you can instead use smoked salmon slices, each cut into 1-2cm pieces), three tablespoons of capers and finally, the juice of half a lemon. Stir everything to combine it nicely.

3) Unravel one 320g (approx. 11oz) ready-made puff pastry sheet and place it on a clean work surface. Slice this sheet into six evenly sized squares using a sharp knife.

4) Spoon 2 tablespoons of the ricotta salmon mixture into the centre of each pastry square.

5) Grab a small bunch of asparagus tips (about 125g / 4.5oz). Trim these tips to approx. 10cm (4 inches) long by chopping off a little of the the thicker, harder bottoms. Gently place four of the trimmed asparagus stems in the centre of each puff pastry square.

6) Place each pasty square carefully onto a greased large baking tray. You may need 2 separate baking trays if you don’t have one large enough to accommodate all of the pastry squares.

7) Place in the oven and cook for approx 10 minutes until the pastry is crispy and turning golden. Remove from the oven and serve warm!