Vol Au Vent, More Yummy Yum.

[mrdee 1]

't Is the season to fill tummies.

I am going to give you a lovely recipe: Vol au vent (French for "Flying in the wind"), also known as "Chicken Supreme".

 

It can be eaten as a starter or as a main meal, on its own or served in a pastry case.

 

Anyway, here is how you make it:

 

Ingredients:

A whole chicken

2 dessert spoons of flour

50 grammes (353 oz.) of butter

2 carrots

1 onion

1 leek

1 clove of garlic

2 dl (7 fluid oz.) of cream

0.5 pound of mince

Some parsley

1 lemon

(The vegetables, as you will see later, are optional).

 

Method:

 

Boil the chicken in water, to which you have (optionally) added the chopped carrot, leek, onion and garlic.

(I say "optional", as you can boil the chicken in plain water, but it gives a nice chicken stock and more flavour to the chicken if the vegetables are used).

 

Take the chicken off the bone and put to the side.

Make little balls of the mince, roll then through flour and boil them in water, put to the side.

 

Start making a white sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan and then stirring in the flour until it begins to look like it is drying a bit.

Then, slowly (to avoid lumps forming) pour in the chicken stock (with vegetables removed if you used them) and stirring continuously.

 

When you have a nice thick sauce, add the chicken and the meatballs, also stir in the cream.

Let everything simmer for 15-20 minutes, while often stirring.

Just before serving, add some lemon juice and garnish by adding chopped parsley.

 

When eaten as a main course, you are now ready to serve the vol au vent with chips, mashed potato or rice.

 

To use as a starter (although it can still be eaten as a main meal in this way, but then serve it as described above), use pastry cases known as bouchées a la Reine or vidée, put them in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees Centigrade and then fill with the vol au vent and serve garnished with some lettuce.

 

As mentioned before, you can of course still use the pastry case and serve it as a main course with chips, mashed potato or rice.

 

Give this one a try, a lot of work involved, but well worth it.

Edited December 1, 2011 by mrdee (see edit history)