Pizza Pinwheels with Tomato & Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 x 320g sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
• 150ml passata
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1.5 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp garlic granules
• 200g mozzarella, grated
• 80g mature Cheddar, grated
• 30g Parmesan, finely grated
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 120g mixed salad leaves
• salt and black pepper to taste
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Tip the passata into a small pan with the tomato puree, oregano and garlic granules, and simmer gently for 3–4 minutes with a splash of water to loosen — the brief cook tames the raw edge of the passata and blooms the dried oregano and garlic granules so they smell properly pizza-shop. Watch the garlic granules: they want fragrant and toasty, not dark. Season generously with salt and pepper, taste, and adjust now — the filling needs to taste boldly seasoned cold, because the pastry around it is bland.
2. Let the sauce cool to barely warm. A hot filling melts the butter layers in the pastry before the oven gets a chance, and you lose the puff. Unroll the pastry on its paper, long edge facing you, and spread the tomato mixture in a thin, even layer right to the side edges, leaving a clean 2cm border along the far long edge so the roll seals cleanly.
3. Scatter the mozzarella, Cheddar and Parmesan evenly over the sauce, pressing lightly so the cheese beds into the tomato. Brush the bare border with a little beaten egg, then roll tightly away from you into a neat, snug log — tight rolls give defined spirals; loose rolls unravel into puddles.
4. Chill the log for 15 minutes — non-negotiable if your kitchen is warm. It firms the butter in the pastry and gives cleaner slices. Trim the ragged ends, then cut into 12 even pinwheels with a sharp knife in a single decisive push (sawing tears the layers) and lay them cut-side up on the tray, leaving a couple of centimetres between each for spread.
5. Brush the tops and exposed spirals with the remaining egg wash and sprinkle over the dried basil. Bake for 22–25 minutes until the pastry is risen and deeply golden — pale pastry is raw pastry inside — the bases are crisp when you lift one with a palette knife, and the cheese is bubbling and lacy brown at the edges. Taste a corner of cheese once they're out: if it needs a final pinch of salt, hit them now while they're hot.
6. Rest on the tray for 3 minutes so the cheese sets just enough to hold its shape. Lift onto a board, pile the salad leaves alongside, scatter torn fresh basil over the pinwheels and serve warm.