Vol~au~Vent.......mini but presentable

Wow, I'm trying hard to keep up, and no doubt that time can really flies when you are busy, hehe. This whole week, I was busy attending school fairs and exhibitions from Monday until Saturday. I was at SM La Salle on Monday, SM Lok Yuk on Tuesday, SM All Saints on Wednesday, KK High School on Thursday, Institut Sinaran on Friday and Sabah Tshung Tsin Secondary School on Saturday. However busy I was, I'm trying to take time out to bake something to keep up with my blogging....as promised.

Therefore, today I'm going to share with this mini little puff pastry that is 'mini' but very 'presentable' if you are serving it at a high-tea party. I saw this 'Vol~Au~Vent' picture sometime back when I was on a business trip in a in-flight magazine. Immediately , it caught my attention and I told myself that I will make this one day. Then, one day when I was in Popular Bookstore, I bumped into 'it' again , and this this time, with the recipe too. of course, without hesitation, I bought the whole cookbook without even flipping through to check on the rest of the book's content........well, that's me......I can go all out just to get a page of what I want in a 100 page book ! haha.........

Anyway, this book that I bought was not a waste too, as the rest of the contents are as interesting as this one - "Vol~Au`Vent". The title of the book is 'Alex Goh - Irresistible Pastries'.

Here's the recipe, it's really easy if you are using 'ready-made Puff Pastry' like I did this time..........but will try another time with my own DIY Puff Pastry *wink*.

Ingredients :

1 kg ready-made Puff Pastry

Filling:

50gm butter

40gm flour

500gm milk

1 Bay Leaf

200gm Shrimps, shelled 

100gm Mushrooms, sliced

2 tsp parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

(For you information, I did not use the above filling, as I don't have any shrimps at home , so I substituted with a can of Tuna Mayonnaise as the filling).

Method:

1. Roll out the puff pastry to about 5mm thickness and cut into round shapes with a 4"inch fluted cutter.
2. Then, use a 2.5" inch round cutter to cut a hole in the centre of half of the puff pastries disc from Step 1.
3. Place the pastry disc without a hole onto a lightly greased baking pan as the base. Brush the edges with some eggwash and place the pastry with a hole on top of it and press lightly.
4. Brush the top with eggwash and allow to stand for 20 minutes.
5. Bake at 200 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until the puff pastry are puffy and golden brown .

For the filling:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add in the flour. Stir for 30 seconds and add in milk gradually. Stir until well blended.
2. Add in bay leaf and bring to boil, stirring constantly.
3. Add in mushrooms and shrimps and parsley and cook over medium heat until it thickens. Add seasoning .
4. Fill the baked pastry cases with the filling. Decorate and serve.

 Till then, happy baking and do try this out, it's really easy -peasy if you everything 'ready-made'.....;)