Mushroom, Spinach & Goat's Cheese Vol-au-Vents Recipe

Mark Dodson's delightful take on vol-au-vents combines wild mushrooms, goat's cheese - Vulscombe if available - with a gorgeous pimento cream & tops with a poached duck egg. Serve these as a vegetarian starter to a summer dinner party

Mushroom Vol-au-vent Recipe

Starter

Easy

1 hour 30 minutes

Print Recipe Add to binder View tweaks Cooked & Loved (5)

Method

Launch Cooking Mode What's this?

To make the vol-au-vents, preheat the oven to 175˚C/gas mark 3 and bake the puff pastry circles for 12-14 minutes until golden brown. Remove and keep in a warm dry place

While the puff pastry is cooking, add a layer of oil to a large frying pan on a medium. When the pan is hot, sauté the mushrooms until golden, add the baby spinach and cook until wilted

Remove the pan from the heat and add the goat's cheese while the contents are stil warm. Season to taste and set aside to cool

To make the pimento cream, sweat the shallots and garlic in a little olive oil until translucent. Add three quarters of the diced red pepper and cook until soft. Add the cream, bring to a simmer and remove from the heat. Blend, season and pass through a fine strainer. Return to the pot for reheating later

What 'to sweat' means

To sweat is to cook something on a moderate to high temperature in a covered pan, without letting the ingredient colour

For the vol-au-vents, hollow out the centre of the puff pastry circles by gently breaking through with a spoon. Spoon in even amounts of the mushroom goat's cheese mix and return to the oven for five minutes at 170˚C/gas mark 3

While the vol-au-vents are heating through, bring a large pot of salted water up to a boil and poach the duck eggs for three minutes. Sauté off the remaining diced red pepper in a little olive oil and set aside

How to poach an egg

Bring a large pan of water up to a boil. Using a whisk, create a whirlpool effect and then drop the egg in slowly - you can crack the egg into a cup first so that it is easier to get closer to the surface when dropping it in. Make sure the egg whites stay close to the yolk by continuing to swirl the water round as the eggs cook. Remove the egg using a slotted spoon

To serve, place a vol-au-vent in the middle of each plate and sprinkle the red pepper around the tart. Place the poached duck egg on top of the tart, cover with the warm pimento sauce and finish with a sprinkle of chives and fresh rocket

Send us feedback on this Mushroom Vol-au-vent Recipe

Ingredients

Wild mushroom vol-au-vents

4 puff pastry, cut into 9cm circles
80g of vulscombe goats cheese
160g of baby spinach leaves, picked and washed
80g of wild mushrooms, finely sliced
4 duck eggs
olive oil
salt to season

Pimento cream

4 red peppers, finely diced
1 banana shallot, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
100ml of cream
salt to season

Garnish

1 tbsp of chopped chives
1 bunch of rocket

Equipment

Blender
Fine chinoise

Award-winning chef, Mark Dodson, shares his gourmet vol-au-vents recipe, which includes mushroom, goat's cheese and a poached duck egg - a fantastic vegetarian starter