An equally delicious supper or party dish you can serve hot or cold; the little extra effort needed in making this dish will more than compensate for it's vastly superior flavour to the cardboardy tasting ready-made alternative
Ingredients:
1 lb. (450g) puff pastry
5lb. (2.25kg) chicken and giblets, washed and cleaned
1 small onion, skinned
1 carrot, peeled
8 oz. (225g) mushroom, washed and sliced
quarter pint of single cream
1 chicken stock cube
half a pint (280ml) milk
2 oz. (50g) butter
2 bay leaves
Cooking Instructions:
Put the chicken and giblets into a large saucepan then add bay leaves, salt, pepper, onion and carrots
Add water, cover the saucepan and cook over a gentle heat for one and a half to two hours or until the chicken is tender
Heat the oven to 450F, Gas Mark 8, 240C
On a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry to half to three quarters of an inch (1-1.5cms) thick
Cut out an 11 inch (28cm) round and put on a baking sheet
Cut a 9 inch (23cm) round in the center of the pastry, this time only cutting nearly through the pastry and brush the trop with milk
Cook in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes, until the pastry is well risen
Allow to cool on a wire rack then cut out the lid
Carefully scoop out the uncooked pastry from the middle
Take the chicken out of the stock and cut the meat into manageable chunks
Save half a pint(285ml) of chicken stock for the filling
Place the butter in a saucepan and heat gently until it melts
Add the flour, stir and cook for about 2 minutes then stir in the chicken stock and milk
Crumble the chicken stock cube, add to the pan and bring to the boil while stirring
Reduce the heat, add the mushrooms and stir for a further 10 minutes before stirring in the chicken and cream
Place the vol-au-vent casing on a serving plate, fill with the chicken and mushroom filling and gently replace the lid