For apéritif we handle them quickly!

At our house we are not planning to conjure up a big party menu this Christmas and New Year's Eve. We don't have any guests and actually "apéro dining" is something we do every Friday evening anyway; just a lot of snacks we like with a cocktail or a bottle of Cava and a nice movie. For us it's a cozy, relaxing way to end the week. When I prepare vol-au-vent as a meal, it involves a lot of work and love. "In grandmother's way" you know... I don't do that for apéro-dining. First, not much filling is needed for the mini-pastries, and second it shouldn't take so much of my time. These mini vol-au-vents are tasty AND quick.

For 24 - 30 mini-pastries

• 2 chicken breasts cut into small pieces
• 1/2 lemon - juiced
• 50g/50g butter and plain flour (or cornstarch if you prefer it that way)
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup milk
• dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon of Comte grated cheese or another grated cheese like Gruyere
• salt and pepper
• mini-puff pastries (24 - 30 and perhaps you can squeeze 36 out of the sauce)
• Optional: finely chopped fresh parsley

Filling

• Melt butter and add flour, stir until incorporated, a minute or so
• Add pieces of chicken, salt and pepper and crumbled bouillon cube. Stir it around until the chicken is all cooked on the outside (white rather than pink)
• Add one cup of water and bring to a slow boil while stirring - the sauce should be very think
• Add one cup of milk and stir
• Add thyme generously and lemon juice
• Let the chicken/ sauce cook for about 5 minutes, stirring
• The chicken should be cooked through and the sauce should have a nice consistency. If it's too thick, squeeze in more lemon or a little bit of milk (just one tablespoon at a time - too much can make it go runny. If you do it slowly, you can't make a mistake.)
• In the end the sauce should stick to your spoon and also have a good hint of lemon in the background
  • taste and adjust
  • Stir in parsley if you wish
• Stir in the cheese - at this point it should no longer simmer. Best if you remove it from the stove but keep it warm.
• Pop the mini-pastries in the oven at 160c for about 7 minutes, they should be crunchy and fresh
• Remove the little hats from the center of the pastries - if it doesn't work out well, don't worry, just push the center down flat
• Fill the pastries with a teaspoon until gently overflowing. Top them with their little hats and present on a serving platter with apéro plates for guests
• Serve with apéro

Enjoy!
Bren