Affairs of Steak (37 page)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Lay out each sheet of thawed, rolled puff pastry on a baking sheet. Leaving a 1-inch border all around each sheet (this will puff up and form a raised crust), prick the remainder of each pastry with a fork every inch or so.

On the forked portions of the pastry, lay out the tomato slices in a pretty overlapping arrangement.

Top with the onion rings.

Wisk together the olive oil, herbs, salt, and vinegar. Paint the tomatoes and onions with the mixture. Sprinkle the tomato tarts with the grated cheese.

Place the tarts into the oven for 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden, the tomatoes and onions are cooked, and the cheese is browned and bubbly.

Cut each tart into 8 portions, and serve warm.

  
VOL-AU-VENT
  

A
vol-au-vent
is a very traditional application of puff pastry. Essentially you make a case of puff pastry with a lid, in which you can serve all sorts of sweet and savory fillings, everything from creamed shrimp to lobster thermidor to chocolate sauce to fresh berries. You can make small cases for individual servings, or large cases for a multi-serving entrée or dessert. Once you’ve mastered the technique, you’ve got a base for an amazing variety of fancy appetizers, main courses, and desserts.

And, with frozen puff pastry, it couldn’t be simpler. In fact, you can often find appetizer-sized
vol-au-vent
casings premade in the freezer section of the grocery store. But I like making my own.

INDIVIDUAL VOL-AU-VENTS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll the pastry sheets a couple of times to smooth them out. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter or cutting around a wide-mouthed glass with a sharp knife, cut out as many perfect circles as you can from the sheets.

Arrange half of the circles on a baking sheet and set them aside.

Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter or by running a sharp knife around a small juice glass, cut small circles out of the middles of the remaining half of the puff pastry rounds.

Whisk the egg and water together in a small bowl.

Paint the whole circles on the baking sheet with the egg wash. Gently separate the inner circles from the outer rings of the other puff pastry rounds. Place the rings on the whole puff pastry circles so that you form a cylinder with a central depression. Paint the rims of the rings with the egg wash. Place the small rings on the baking sheet or a separate baking sheet if there is not enough room. These will be your lids. The cylinders will be your containers.

Place all rounds in the oven and bake until brown and crispy, about 20–25 minutes.

Set aside to cool.

Fill with the filling of your choice.

Possible Fillings:

BERRY-FILLED
VOL-AU-VENTS

Slice the strawberries into a medium bowl. Add the blueberries. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar, add the almond extract, and mix well.

Spoon the berries equally into the vol-au-vent casings. Top with the lids.

Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar.

Serve each on a dessert dish with a side spoonful of whipped cream topped with a mint sprig, if desired.

CHOCOLATE SUNDAE
VOL-AU-VENTS

The prep work for this should be done in advance, the desserts assembled at the last minute, and served in a jiffy.

Clear out space in the freezer to accommodate a couple of pie plates or a cookie sheet.

Scoop out the ice cream into individual balls that will fit into the
vol-au-vent
shells. Place the scoops into the pie plates or cookie sheet that fits in your freezer. Freeze solid.

Place the pecans into a skillet over medium heat and toss to toast them—this is fast work and you have to watch to make sure the pecans don’t scorch. Add the maple syrup and stir. Set aside. (You’ll warm the mixture again right before you serve these.)

To assemble, place an ice cream ball inside each
vol-au-vent
. Top with warm pecan/maple syrup mixture. Place
vol-au-vent
top on the ice cream. Drizzle heavily with chocolate sauce.

Serve immediately.

WARM AND SAVORY
VOL-AU-VENTS

All you have to do is make a nice cream sauce, add the meat and cooked vegetable of your choice, possibly some wine or sherry, and maybe some melted cheese. Pour the resulting mixture warm into the
vol-au-vent
and serve. The following recipe can be tweaked to provide endless variations.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until it forms a smooth paste. Very gradually whisk in the milk, until it is smooth. Bring the sauce slowly to nearly a boil, whisking constantly until it thickens. Turn down the heat to a low simmer. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

(At this point you’ve just made a classic French béchamel sauce. From here on in you’re just seasoning it to your taste.)

Whisk in the sherry. Add the shrimp, mushrooms, and peas. Stir until the additions are warmed through.

Place each
vol-au-vent
on a plate. Carefully fill with shrimp-vegetable sauce. Lean the lid at an angle to the
vol-au-vent
. Garnish with fresh parsley, if using. Serve warm.

OTHER VARIATIONS

Use cooked cubed chicken instead of the shrimp.

Use peas and carrots instead of just peas.

Use chunks of lobster tail meat instead of the shrimp.

Use cubed ham instead of the shrimp.

I’m sure you’ll think up your own favorites, as well.

  APPLE STRUDEL  

Makes 12 appetizer portions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples. Place in a large bowl. Add lemon juice and toss—this will prevent the apples from discoloring.

Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, salt, and raisins. Toss until the apples and raisins are evenly coated with sugar, flour, and spices.

Roll out the puff pastry sheets. Place half the apple mixture in a line in the center of each sheet. Spread across the pastry, leaving the edges free from apple mixture. Roll the apple mixture up in the pastry, jelly-roll style.

Place the rolled pastry, seam-side down, on a baking sheet.

Whisk the egg and water together in a small bowl. Brush the pastry rolls all over with the egg wash.

Make diagonal slices with a sharp knife into the pastry every two inches down the roll, cutting one-third of the way through the pastry rolls. This lets the fruit filling show through jewel-like in the finished pastry.

Place the pastries in the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and puffy.

Remove from oven and serve warm. A side of good ice cream or whipped cream topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon is always good with this.

  NAPOLEONS