Having obtained some exotic mushrooms, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. As the current co-judge for the The CookingBites Recipe Challenge I thought I would try out the recipe for Vol au vent from @valedevento in my 'test kitchen'. I made a few minor changes (apart from using different mushrooms). Here is the result:
Photographed in natural light.
This Belgian recipe is basically, poached chicken pieces, mini meatballs and mushrooms served in a bechamel sauce with 'vol au vent' - puff pastry cases. Its often served with chips (fries).
For the recipe, I used pork mince for the meatballs and found I really needed to add a lot of seasoning to avoid them being bland. I used grated lemon zest, white pepper, marjoram and salt
I didn't use a whole chicken but poached some chicken thighs and drumsticks. This doesn't make any difference to the chicken really - but obviously the stock produced isn't going to be as good as with a whole chicken - so I added some pre-prepared stock. I also added some milk to the sauce to make it creamier.
I fried the mushrooms in butter to enhance the flavour. I fried the meatballs separately. A lot of versions of this recipe suggest poaching the meatballs - I tried this but found the taste too bland, so I fried them as in @valedevento 's recipe.
The verdict.
This was tested on all the family and I made a vegetarian version for my daughter, omitting the chicken and meat and substituting mushroom stock for chicken stock. I served it with chips (fries). Everyone liked it and said they would definitely eat it again. The main issue is that the dish tends towards the bland side - so I think it is very important to taste and adjust seasoning.
Anyway - thank you for posting this recipe @valedevento!
Photographed in natural light.
This Belgian recipe is basically, poached chicken pieces, mini meatballs and mushrooms served in a bechamel sauce with 'vol au vent' - puff pastry cases. Its often served with chips (fries).
For the recipe, I used pork mince for the meatballs and found I really needed to add a lot of seasoning to avoid them being bland. I used grated lemon zest, white pepper, marjoram and salt
I didn't use a whole chicken but poached some chicken thighs and drumsticks. This doesn't make any difference to the chicken really - but obviously the stock produced isn't going to be as good as with a whole chicken - so I added some pre-prepared stock. I also added some milk to the sauce to make it creamier.
I fried the mushrooms in butter to enhance the flavour. I fried the meatballs separately. A lot of versions of this recipe suggest poaching the meatballs - I tried this but found the taste too bland, so I fried them as in @valedevento 's recipe.
The verdict.
This was tested on all the family and I made a vegetarian version for my daughter, omitting the chicken and meat and substituting mushroom stock for chicken stock. I served it with chips (fries). Everyone liked it and said they would definitely eat it again. The main issue is that the dish tends towards the bland side - so I think it is very important to taste and adjust seasoning.
Anyway - thank you for posting this recipe @valedevento!
Last edited:
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