June's Chicken Vol Au Vents

Step 1: Add the rosemary, garlic, bay leaves, cloves, chopped celery, carrot and onion to a high pan. Season generously with pepper and salt.

Step 2: Cut the chicken up: legs, wings, and breasts. Also, chop up the remaining carcass. Add it all to the pan. Then fill it with water (add about 7 cups or 1,7 L.) until the chicken is fully submerged.

Step 3: Place the pan over high heat until boiling, then leave it there for 10 minutes. Then turn the heat lower and gently cook the chicken for about 30 minutes. After that take the chicken off the heat and let it cool down for another 45 minutes. In the meantime chop the mushrooms into bite-size pieces.

Step 4: Transfer the ground veal, pork or pork sausage to a bowl and season with pepper and salt. Knead the meat mixture well and make tiny balls of ½ oz (15 g) each. You should end up with about 20 of them. Cover the meatballs with plastic wrap and store them in the fridge until later.

Step 5: Then remove the cooled cooked chicken from the hot stock (don't throw the stock away, we'll make our white sauce with it later). Remove any chicken skin, bones, veins, cartilage or sinew (discard all this) and pick the cooked meat from the bones. Shred the larger bits up roughly. Then transfer the chicken meat to a large pan.

Step 6: Strain the chicken stock in a fine sieve or colander over a large pan. I ended up with 6 cups (1,4 l) of flavorful chicken stock. Discard the cooked vegetables.

Step 7: Then bring the stock to a gentle boil again. Once warm, add the meatballs and mushrooms.

Step 8: Poach them for about 5 minutes. Then remove the meatballs and mushrooms using a slotted spoon. Add them to the shredded chicken.

Step 9: Take the chicken stock off the heat now. In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat.

Step 10: Add the flour and whisk well until you get a wet crumble.

Step 11: Gently cook this over medium-low heat for about a minute. Then gradually add splashes of the warm chicken stock until you get a sticky flour paste. Keep stirring. Don't add too much at once or the sauce will become lumpy.

Step 12: Whisk well. Gradually add more chicken stock (about 3 to 4 cups) until you get a pretty runny white sauce. In the end, remove the white sauce from the heat and add the beaten egg yolk.

Step 13: Stir quickly so the yolk doesn't scramble. The sauce will thicken a little extra (this egg yolk technique is called a 'liaison' in French). Check the seasoning and add extra pepper or salt to taste. Then add the white sauce to the chicken, meatballs, and mushrooms.

Step 14: Stir carefully. Cover the pan for another 5 minutes and let the vol au vent warm through or place it back over very low heat.

Step 15: Put the vol au vent puff pastry casings onto plates. Top with the chicken, meatballs, and mushrooms. Serve the chicken vol au vents hot.

Puff Pastry Vol Au Vents

Step 16: Place the puff pastry on a clean surface. With a metal serving ring, cup or glass cut out 14 large circles, 3 inches (7,5 cm) in diameter. Leave 2 of the circles intact and then cut out the middle of the remaining 12 circles, creating rings.

Step 17: Then remove the middle circle. Prick holes in the 2 intact circles using a fork.

Step 18: Once that's done, assemble the vol au vent: place the 2 intact pastry circles and the 14 pastry rings on a clean chopping board. Brush them all with a little beaten egg yolk.

Step 19: Then start building up the vol au vent: place the pastry ring on top of the circle. Keep on doing that until you have a nice little stack of puff pastry.

Step 20: You can also use the minicircles you cut out and then brush them with the egg yolk if you don't want to throw them away.

Step 21: Place the 2 pastry towers (and the small circles) on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake them in a preheated oven at 374°F (190°C) for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and crisp. Keep an eye on them and cover with tin foil if necessary. Then remove them from the hot oven and serve with your favorite filling!

NOTE: I'm not sure if the Puff Pastry Vol Au Vents are enough for the full amount of the filling, therefore please keep that in mind and use your best judgment.

NOTE: The Vol Au Vents are made ahead which then the chicken mixture is placed in the already baked vents.