Prawn cocktail vol au vents

This year my husband and I were charged with the task of making the starter for the family Christmas dinner.  He suggested making a creative twist on his family's traditional starter (prawn cocktail) and suggested trying them as vol au vents. So with a little help from the instructions on the back of the pastry packet, we set to work.

Ingredients (makes 40):
500g packet pre-made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
450g prawns, cooked and peeled
1 avacado
mayonnaise to taste
ketchup to taste
splash of lemon juice
splash of Worcester sauce
splash of hot sauce (optional; we used a Cajun jalapeño sauce from Louisiana)
ground paprika

Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. We have a fan oven, so the temperature for a normal oven would be 190 degrees. Roll the pastry out on a floured surface until it formed a rectangle about 30cm by 20cm and 5mm thick, then cut these into small circles.

Cutting pastry with a whisky glass

Once the pastry had been cut score a circle half way down, leaving a small border. This makes it easier to remove the centre once baked, meaning that the pastry case can then be filled. Place the pastry circles on a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush each circle with some beaten egg to give it a better colour once cooked.

Brushing with beaten egg

Bake the pastry until it has risen and is golden brown on top (about 12 minutes) at which point remove them from the oven, carefully peel away the baking paper and place them on a wire rack to cool. When they are cool enough to touch, run a knife around the pre-scored circle and that section should pop out easily. Then leave the pastry cases to cool completely.

Pastry before the removal of the centre...

...and after

While the pastry is cooling, make the prawn cocktail. Place the prawns in a medium sized bowl. We used king prawns which were slightly too large for the cases, so I cut them in half. To these add the ketchup, mayonnaise, Worcester sauce, lemon juice and hot sauce to suit your taste. The mixture should be quite wet, but not swimming in sauce. This can be left in the fridge for a few days, depending on when you need to use it.

To serve, peel the avacado and remove the stone, then slice into thin strips about the height of the pastry case. Place 3 or 4 of these strips into each case, spoon in a little of the prawn cocktail sauce, arrange 2 prawns inside the case and sprinkle with a little paprika. These vol au vents can be served either on a large platter or on individual plates as below, where some of the remaining prawn cocktail mixture has been placed on some thinly sliced avacado to bring the plate together.

Dalry Mess

This dessert came out of a mistake. I was attempting to make macarons, adapting a recipe from the BBC, but the mixture wasn't thick enough so it wouldn't pipe properly. However, I decided to cook it anyway and in the process created a new dessert, which I dubbed Dalry Mess.

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the meringues:

125g macadamias

200g icing sugar

3 free-range egg whites

2 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

For the chocolate ganache:

100g dark chocolate, chopped

100ml double cream

1 tbsp Camp Coffee

1 tbsp Tia Maria

10g unsalted butter

After weighing out the macadamias I blasted them in the blender until they were finely ground. I then added the icing sugar and blended them until they were well combined, then passed them through a sieve to remove any lumps and setting the mixture aside once that was done.

Sieving the macadamia and icing sugar mixture

I whisked the egg whites in a large bowl at a low speed until stiff peaks formed when the whisk was removed prom the bowl. I slowly added in the cream of tartar and caster sugar to the egg whites until the mixture was smooth and then folded in the icing sugar mixture.

I dropped dessert spoonfuls of the mixture a few centimetres apart on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper, banging the tray sharply on the counter top to remove any air bubbles. Then I left the tray to rest uncovered for an hour, during which time I pre-heated the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

After the hour was up, I baked the meringues for 10 minutes, then removed them from the oven and left them to cool for 5 minutes, after which I peeled off the greaseproof paper and left them to cool completely. Once cool, I crumbled them into pieces and set them aside.

While the meringues were cooling I made the chocolate ganache. For this I heated the double cream and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until they were smooth and well combined. Then I added the Camp Coffee, Tia Maria and butter to the mixture, stirring until it was smooth, then removed from the heat and left it to cool.

To serve, I placed some of the crumbled meringue in ramekins and topped it with the chocolate ganache.

Dalry Mess

Coq au vin

My husband and I spent our honeymoon this summer in Vancouver. One of the things which most struck me about the city was the quality of the food. There is a very strong emphasis on local produce and the quality of the ingredients. One of the things we brought back with us (along with copious amounts of maple syrup and some ice wine) was The British Columbia Seasonal Cookbook (published by Lone Pine Publishing). This recipe comes from the Fall section and calls for specific local ingredients, such as Okanagan Pinot Noir, for which I substituted more generic ones. It also wanted a whole chicken cut into pieces whereas I used thighs, as I think they are an under-rated part of the chicken. So here is my version of the recipe with the North American measures (cups etc.) converted into grams.

Ingredients (serves 2):

35g unsalted butter

60g bacon lardons

4 chicken thighs, boned but with the skin left on

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 celery stick, diced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1tbsp flour

250ml red wine

2 sprigs fresh thyme

500ml chicken stock

2 bay leaves

100g button mushrooms, peeled

freshly ground salt and pepper

I first melted half the butter in a casserole dish then added the bacon cooking it over a medium heat until it was browned. I then removed it from the pan and drained off the excess fat on a couple of sheets of kitchen roll before putting it to one side.

Draining the fat off the bacon

I then seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and cooked them in the butter/bacon fat mixture until golden brown, turning them every so often. I then removed these from the pan and set them aside with the bacon.

Browning the chicken

Further detail on the browning

I then added the onion, carrots and celery to the pan and cooked them on a medium heat, stirring every so often to prevent sticking, until softened. I then added the garlic to the pan and stirred in the flour, cooking this mixture for about 5 minutes.

Part way through dicing the vegetables

The vegetables softening

Once soft, I then put the chicken and bacon back in the pan, adding the thyme, bay leaves, stock and wine until the chicken was covered. I then brought this mixture to the boil, reducing it to a simmer and partially covering it with a lid and set the timer for 45 minutes.

After the dish had been simmering for about 35 minutes I melted the remaining butter in a pan, added the mushrooms and cooked them over a low heat until they had coloured and started to release their juices then seasoned them with a little salt and pepper.

After the 45 minutes were up I checked that the chicken was cooked all the way through, then turned the heat off under the mushrooms and added them to the chicken. As the sauce was still quite liquid at this point I turned the heat up and reduced it until it had thickened up and had a slight sheen to it.

Coq au vin served on a bed of buttered tagliatelle