PRAWN AND CHAMPAGNE VOL-AU-VENTS
I used Wild Pink Prawns from my local fish shop which were gorgeous. They are caught off the south-west Atlantic and collected straight from the vessels in the west of Ireland.
Use good quality prawns!
Ingredients
500 g prawns (without shell) cooked
You can get the vol-au-vent puff pastry already made up in the supermarket. They will be kept in the freezer dept. Puff pastry can be a difficult one so it definitely takes the stress out of the preparation for you! You can also buy rolls of pastry from your supermarket if you want to do the cutting out yourself.
plain flour for dusting
1 egg beaten
Champagne 150ml (or any other sparkling wine)
Double cream 200ml
Zest of 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon of juice
dill a small bunch, roughly chopped
Method
If using rolled pastry, defrost it then roll out on a floured surface. Use a 12cm round cutter to cut 8 circles from the pastry. Put 4 of the circles onto a baking paper-lined tray, then use a round 8cm cutter to make rings from the remaining 4 circles.
Brush the 4 circles on the baking paper with beaten egg, then neatly lay over the rings onto each. Prick the middles with a fork. Put the inner circles onto the baking tray too and brush everything with more beaten egg. Chill for 20 minutes.
If using the pre-made Vol-au-vents straight from the fridge then just egg wash them and put on the baking tray as above.
Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C, Put into the oven for 20 minutes until risen and golden.
While the pastries are cooking make the sauce. Tip the champagne into a small pan and reduce by 1/2. Add in the cream, season lightly with salt and lots of black pepper, and reduce until thick coating consistency.
Add in the king prawns, lemon zest and juice, and season. Stir in the dill.
Spoon the mixture into the vol-au-vents and serve. Delicious!!
