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Any idea what a jalousie is? No – neither did I. And extremely unusually for me, I’ve had this recipe for a long time and it never occurred to me to look it up.

It turns out a jalousie is a blind or shutter made of angled slats, which when you see the pictures of the final product of this recipe it will be apparent why it’s called that. Turns out we have jalousies in the form of plantation shutters in our bedroom, and the sort I’m most familiar with are the ones that used to be typical on toilet and laundry windows.

jalousie1 The sort of jalousie that used to be typical in dunnies around the country.
(photo: Wikipedia)

These jalousies are really simple to make and delicious, but the finished product also looks really spectacular. With ham and pineapple I suppose these could be considered a hyped-up, nouveau cuisine version of the old ham and pineapple pizza, but stick it in front of your family and friends and they will be amazed at your culinary skill. Ms Onion thinks these would be good done with shortcrust pastry (I like to think because she likes my shortcrust pastry) but I’m not entirely convinced. I could make the puff pastry for this of course but I can’t really be bothered when it comes in cheap and convenient 25cm x 25cm frozen squares; at least not until Rachel Khoo shows me a better way.

The original recipe said it serves four, but unless you’re small eaters or two of those are vegan I don’t think it’s going to cut it for four, so probably two or maybe three is the go.

To get started, switch on the oven to 220ºC (about 200-210 if you have a fan forced oven) and line a large tray or one of the oven trays with baking paper. Take the pastry sheets out of the freezer so they can thaw a bit before they need cutting. Roughly chop up the ham and tomatoes and combine them in a bowl. Then add the pineapple, cheese and onion and mix it all together – hard part done. Last time when I bought semi-dried tomato mix they had run out of the plain ones and I could only get ones with cubes of feta in it. I just reduced the amount of cheddar a little and it turned out to be a pretty good addition.

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Cut the pastry sheets into two rectangles, one slightly larger than the other. The general idea here is that the larger, top half needs to be a little bigger to allow it to go up and over the filling and still have enough to stick it down on each side. Put the smaller halves onto the oven tray and pile the ham mixture on top, leaving a 1cm border all around, then whisk up the egg and brush some around the border.

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Now comes the magic. Fold the larger pastry rectangles in half lengthwise and make about six or seven diagonal cuts along the folded edge. Carefully unfold them and stick them down over the filling, pressing around the edges with a fork.

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Brush over the pastry with the egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. If you’ve got some black sesame seeds to mix with white ones it makes for a nice effect, but no matter if not.

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Bake them in the oven for 20 minutes until they’re all puffed and golden, and they come out looking won-der-FUUULL! Serve with some mixed salad leaves and a simple dressing.

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This recipe is adapted from one that first appeared in Australian Good Taste magazine, February 2008.

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Ham, Pineapple and Tomato Jalousie

Cooking: About 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
  • 150 g shaved leg ham, roughly chopped
  • 70 g (1⁄3 cup) semi-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  • 225 g can pineapple pieces, drained
  • 1⁄2 cup coarsely grated cheddar cheese
  • 1⁄2 small red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 sheets (25 x 25 cm) frozen puff pastry, just thawed
  • 1 egg, lightly whisked
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
  • mixed salad leaves, to serve
Directions
  • Preheat oven to 220°C.
  • Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
  • Combine the ham, tomato, pineapple, cheese and onion together in a bowl.
  • Cut each pastry sheet into two, making one rectangle a little larger than the other. Place the smaller rectangles on the tray and pile the ham mixture on top, leaving a 1 cm border all around. Brush the edges with the egg.
  • Gently fold the larger pastry rectangles in half lengthways and make six or seven evenly spaced diagonal cuts along the folded edges. Carefully open out and place over the filling. Seal the edges by pressing down with a fork. Brush lightly with egg and sprinkle over the sesame seeds.
  • Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden.
  • Serve with salad leaves.