Sunday, September 27, 2009

Daring Bakers - Vols-au-vent


A fellow TWD baker, Steph of A Whisk and A Spoon, is our Daring Bakers host for September. Without further ado:

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

This involved us making puff pastry. This is the third different puff pastry recipe that I have tried (who knew? a year or so ago I thought puff pastry came from Mr Pampas), which is rolled out and cut into rings for the vols-au-vent. (I am glad to have been corrected, because Aussies tend to call the plural "vol au vents").

Here is my lovely layered puff pastry:



and here are the finished vols-au-vent of assorted sizes, complete with little "hats" (which I didn't end up using):



This is my Weight Watchers chicken curry that I used to fill the large savoury vol-au-vent:



and again in the vol-au-vent:


At the top of the post, you will see my lovely little sweet vols-au-vent, filled with stewed apple (the left-overs from the TWD apple turnovers that I cooked up!) and lemon curd (Stephanie Alexander's recipe). One of the apple vols-au-vent is dressed up with a scoop of vanilla icecream and a puff pastry hat, while the lemon curd vols-au-vent are complemented by a blueberry on top.

Thanks to our host, Steph, who will have the vols-au-vent recipe on her site. For a rainbow-coloured spectrum of ways to use your vols-au-vent, check out the Daring Kitchen blogroll.
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26 comments:

  1. JenniferSeptember 27, 2009 at 9:54 AM

    those vol-au-vents look AMAZING...what a wonderful dish to have the curry inside it!!! YUM!

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  2. PeabodySeptember 27, 2009 at 10:34 AM

    LOL- I love that you put WW chicken curry into a butter laddened puff pastry!!!

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 27, 2009 at 10:42 AM

    Nice! Both the savory and sweet versions look great!

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  4. AnonymousSeptember 27, 2009 at 10:43 AM

    Love the use of curry in your vol-au-vent! Very nicely done!

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  5. Rosa's Yummy YumsSeptember 27, 2009 at 11:39 PM

    Very well done! I love that curry filling, yummy!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  6. Lorraine @ Not Quite NigellaSeptember 27, 2009 at 11:43 PM

    Hehe I have to confess I thought it was vol au vents. In fact I put it as the title of hte picture-oops! These look lovely and I'd imagine the curry would go so well with the buttery vols au vent ;)

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  7. Gloria BakerSeptember 28, 2009 at 12:32 AM

    I love vol au vents!! dear cake and law and love yours!!! xxxgloria

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  8. LaurenSeptember 28, 2009 at 1:57 AM

    Beautiful job! I love the layers, and your filling sounds divine =D.

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  9. sSeptember 28, 2009 at 2:20 AM

    nice..and such a wonderful idea...

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  10. IvySeptember 28, 2009 at 4:42 AM

    You must be an expert by now making your own puff pastry. I never got to make the recipe you sent me last year and now I've stopped eating butter. They do look delicious.

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  11. JoSeptember 28, 2009 at 10:23 AM

    Great job on your challenge and your vols-au vent and flavours look delicious.

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  12. TammySeptember 28, 2009 at 12:43 PM

    Love the irony of that WW dish in the pastry case! well done, your pastry looks perfect! i didnt bake this month as I am cnotemplating resigning as a daring baker - i'm actually pregnant and so time is getting more and more precious, so thinking of just sticking to TWD.

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  13. BrendaSeptember 28, 2009 at 2:42 PM

    I think they look great! I haven't attempted making my own puff pastry yet....it looks too scary hahaha!

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  14. AnhSeptember 28, 2009 at 4:35 PM

    I love that curry filling!! So beautiful!!

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  15. Deeba PABSeptember 28, 2009 at 5:44 PM

    Yum yum...look at all the goreous flavours you got in there. Love all 3 of them, especially the lemon curd with the blueberry! Aw they are sweet, hats & all!

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  16. The Caked CrusaderSeptember 28, 2009 at 6:35 PM

    Gosh your puff pastry looks amazing. I've never made my own (the shame) but your fantastic results are most encouraging!

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  17. DharmSeptember 28, 2009 at 6:59 PM

    Having studied in Melbourne, I am all to familiar with Mr Pampas and Vol-au-VentS! Your post brought a smile to my face. Your puff pastry is just super and i like the apple filling as well as the curry. well done!

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  18. Cookie baker LynnSeptember 29, 2009 at 12:13 AM

    Beautiful job on your puff pastry! Your vols-au-vents look so lovely.

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  19. Erica from Cooking for SevenSeptember 29, 2009 at 5:33 AM

    Oh, I love chicken curry! What a good idea for a savory filling. This was such a great challenge.

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  20. Jenny TanSeptember 29, 2009 at 5:49 AM

    Mmmmm...I thought about a curry filling too! They look delicious! :)

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  21. steph- whisk/spoonSeptember 29, 2009 at 7:45 AM

    lovely, and so many delicious fillings! WW curry in puff pastry is a way to balance it all out, right? :)

    thanks for baking along this month!!

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  22. isaSeptember 29, 2009 at 1:09 PM

    Your vols-au-vent looks beautiful and flaky and your chicken curry sounds delicious.
    Great job!

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  23. zorra vom kochtopfSeptember 29, 2009 at 5:37 PM

    Well done, and I love your filling!

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  24. Aparna BalasubramanianSeptember 30, 2009 at 12:40 AM

    Lovely vol-au-vents. Apple filling would have tasted like flaky, crunchy pie! Yum.

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  25. LisaSeptember 30, 2009 at 1:54 PM

    Your vols-au-vents look lovely, and your fillings are mouth watering, especially the apple. Great Also, I just read your review of Julie & Julia..Nicely done! Just saw the movie last night so your review has piqued my interest in the book. I also read her blog a while back, and it was umm..interesting, to say the least. She definitely needed some photos..lol

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  26. CakelawSeptember 30, 2009 at 5:57 PM

    Thanks Jennifer - the curry was my dinner, so I thought it was logical to combine the two.

    Absolutely Peabody - a spot of irony ;)

    Thanks Jill.

    Hi Ellie, thanks!

    Thanks Rosa, 'twas yummy.

    Hi Lorraine, I know, I thought the same until I saw this challenge - no more excuses for me!

    Thanks Gloria.

    Thanks Lauren - I wonder if I could get them even higher by not rolling the pastry out as flat.

    Thanks S - all thought up on the fly, and I already had the curry and apple.

    Hi Ivy, maybe one day. This recipe I think is easier than the one I sent you, but the Nick Malgieri one is even easier.

    Thanks Jo - I was amazed how much just two layers of pastry could puff up like they did.

    LOL Tammy - at the time, it was more because I was too lazy to make a special savoury filling. Congrats on your pregnancy - wonderful news!!!

    Hi Bren, you would be amazed at how easy it really is - just choose a cooler day or have the air conditioning on, as the butter melts and oozes out otherwise.

    Thanks Anh - I forgot the cashews on top, but oh well, it tasted good anyhow.

    Thanks Deeba - the lemon curd ones were my favourite as well.

    Thanks Crusader - you'd find making it a doddle with your skills.


    Thanks Dharm - glad I could bring back some fond memories.

    Thanks Lynn :)

    Thanks Erica - I was making curry for dinner, so it just seemed a natural progression.

    Thanks Jenny.

    LOL Steph - that's right, balance in everything. Thanks for hosting us this month.

    Thanks Isa.

    Hi Zorra, thanks.

    Hi Aparna, I like the apple pie analogy - you are right.

    Thanks Lisa Michelle. I had a quick glance at Julie's blog, and immediately missed the photos - they would have been hilarious.

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Thanks for dropping by!