Re: Chicken pastry filling
My mom takes a small pack of frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, etc)…and then she dices up a few potatoes and finely chops an onion. She pours a little oil in a pot and cooks the mixed veggies, potatoes, onion until tender (especially until potatoes are tender). She adds seasonings…salt, garam masala, red pepper flakes, cumin seeds, coriander seeds (crushed). Then she mashes the mixture…and it makes for a nice samosa filling. You could try that with puff pastry.
Hmmm…how about a filling of cranberry sauce and brie? So you get a bit of savoury and sweet. Have you tried guava paste? It looks a block of imli and you can easily find it in the ethnic section of the supermarket…pretty cheap…and it pairs nicely with manchego cheese (more pricey) on crackers…and I think it would make a nice sweet/savoury filling for puff pastry sheets. Or a filling of caramelized onions, mushrooms, peppers and cheese?
You could vary the taste of the chicken/beef filling that you usually use. Maybe give it a more Mexican flavor…or Chinese perhaps…by varying other ingredients like veggies (jalapenos, salsa pesto, etc)…or seasonings (soya sauce, etc.).