El cerdo con manta

I promised to update you with my other Pillsbury Bake-Off entry this week, and, if you were checking back hourly in the hopes that I would follow through on that promise, well then you're in for a treat. For the rest of you, check back soon, and I promise to post something more interesting. Just kidding! There's nothing more interesting than crescent rolls.

Anyway, for my second entry (well, second in terms of how I'm posting them, but it's actually the first idea I thought of), I wanted to create an appetizer inspired by the flavors of Spanish tapas. I knew from the outset that it would have to include chorizo because I needed an excuse to buy a bunch of chorizo. From there I preceded to create what was essentially a pig in a blanket but with a more Spanish flair. (I originally wanted to call them "Spanish Pigs" for that reason, but common decency prevented me.) The result was a crescent puff filled with chorizo sausage, Manchego cheese, and a bastardized version of a Basque piperadda (that incidentally didn't include very many peppers and absolutely no onions by the time I got through with it).

You'd think that after making this recipe as many times as I did during the testing phase, I would have gotten at least one picture. And yet, shockingly, I did not. It's okay; they weren't all that showy appearance-wise anyway. Rather like the recipe in my last post really. Based on Carolyn's suggestion in the previous post though, I'm just going to post delicious pictures of food from the Internet.

Isn't that the most glorious pie you've ever seen? It's mango strawberry meringue for those of you keeping score at home. It would probably make a nice pairing with this appetizer. Then you wouldn't even need a main course!

If you were going to make a main course though...you could do worse than cornmeal crusted fish tacos with rhubarb salsa.

Okay, following that gratuitous display of food pornography, my recipe might not be able to hold it's own. Nevertheless, a promise is a promise.

Ingredients:
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 can(s) Muir Glen Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes
3 tablespoon(s) chopped chipoltle peppers in abodo
1 tablespoon(s) olive oil
1 teaspoon(s) garlic, minced
4 oz(s) Manchego cheese
4 oz(s) fully cooked chorizo sausage

Number of servings 12:

Preheat oven to 375.

In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic and saute until garlic starts to brown (about 2 minutes). Add the chopped peppers (you can add more or less depending on how spicy you want the appetizers) and the can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes. Turn the heat down to low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally. When the liquid is mostly gone (this should take about 10 minutes), remove from heat and let cool.

Open the Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls (you can also use the Pillsbury Crescent Seamless Dough Sheet, if available). If using the rolls, unfurl the dough, but do no separate into individual rolls. Press the perforations together with your fingers. Use a knife to cut the dough into 12 equal squares.

Using a sharp knife, slice your fully cooked chorizo sausage into thin slices (approximately 1/8 inch thick). Place one slice of chorizo in the center of each of the crescent dough squares.

Slice the Manchego cheese into small chunks, the approximate size and thickness of the sausage slices. Place a chunk of cheese on top of each sausage slice.
Add a heaping teaspoon of the tomato pepper mixture to the top of the cheese on each of the 12 squares.

Fold each of the four corners of one of the dough squares inward over the filling. Where the four corners meet in the center, press the dough tightly together so that the sides will not unfold during baking. There will be naturally occurring slits where the dough does not quite meet and filling is visible. Repeat these steps with the remaining eleven dough squares.

Transfer the folded appetizers to a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 13 to 15 minutes or until the appetizer bites are golden brown. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, but the appetizers are best served while still warm.