Recipe: puff pastry vol-au-vent with chicken ragout
Sometimes nothing beats an old-school puff pastry vol-au-vent with chicken ragout. So retro and so delicious. And not the kind from a can—the best one is, of course, made completely from scratch.
A creamy chicken ragout with sweetbreads, poached meatballs and Dutch shrimp. Served in a bowl of crispy puff pastry. A classic vol-au-vent just like grandma used to make.
How to make a puff pastry vol-au-vent with chicken ragout
1. Make your own chicken stock. You will use the chicken you make the stock with later for the ragout. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the stock vegetables, fresh herbs and spices. Add the chicken; it should be completely submerged. Simmer for 60 minutes over low heat with the lid slightly askew on the pot. Skim and remove fat regularly with a slotted spoon.
2. Meanwhile, poach the sweetbreads for 10 minutes in lightly salted water and cool under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Cut the cooled sweetbreads into rough 1×1-centimeter cubes and season with salt and pepper. Heat butter in the pan and fry the sweetbreads for 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown all over. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Heat a frying pan over medium heat with a knob of butter and add the mushrooms. Let them stew for 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and lemon. Remove from the heat once lightly browned and set aside.
4. Season the ground veal with salt and pepper. Knead in the egg and breadcrumbs and roll into small balls. Spoon a few ladlefuls of stock from the pot into a small saucepan. Bring almost to the boil and poach the meatballs in it for 2 minutes. Set the poached meatballs aside.
5. Remove the cooked chicken from the pot. Remove the skin from the chicken. Pull the chicken into rough pieces and set aside in a bowl. Reduce the stock over medium-high heat for 30 minutes, until reduced to one-third.
6. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Now make the roux. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the flour all at once and mix well with a wooden spoon. Let the flour-butter mixture cook/dry for 5 minutes over medium-high heat. The roux should be slightly grainy, but should not brown.
7. Strain the reduced stock. Using a whisk, gradually whisk 500 milliliters of the stock into the roux, a splash at a time. Always wait until the sauce bubbles again before adding more. There should be no lumps. Let the sauce boil for 2 minutes each time so it can thicken. The sauce should be lightly thickened, but not too thick. Season with salt, pepper, lemon juice and marsala. Add cream for extra creaminess and reduce again for a few minutes.
8. Heat the ragout pastry cases in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add the pieces of chicken, mushrooms, meatballs and sweetbreads to the cream sauce. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
9. Fill each puff pastry case with the ragout. Garnish with the shrimp and chopped chervil.
Also read:
- Olé! ‘Bitterballen with drinks’ officially recognized as intangible heritage
- The bitterbal gets its own holiday: National Bitterbal Day
- Thanks to PostNL, licking a bitterbal
