Vol-au-vents: Cheese & bacon and Coronation chicken recipe

Vol-au-vents are one of our favourite canapé foods, and this recipe makes coronation chicken and cheesy bacon varieties.

These little pastry mouthfuls fell out of fashion a bit in recent decades, but we're not sure why - they are absolutely delicious and make brilliant buffet food, whether you're just doing drinks with a few nibbles or a larger spread. It's nice to make both kinds so your guests can choose their favourite type, but if you're making these for the coronation, you might prefer to just do the chicken kind. This recipe makes 24 vol-au-vents - a dozen of each variety, and to keep things easy we've used shop-bought puff pastry.

Ingredients

• 375g ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 free-range egg, beaten

For the cheese and bacon filling: 

• 3 rashers smoked back bacon, cut into small pieces
• 2 small shallots, chopped
• 80g Taleggio cheese
• 4 tbsp crème fraîche
• 12 chives, snipped
• 30g pine nuts, toasted

For the coronation chicken filling:

• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp korma paste
• 2 tsp mango chutney
• 1 large cooked chicken breast, chopped
• Small bunch fresh coriander

Method

1. Heat oven to Mark 7/220°C. Using a 5cm cutter, cut out 24 pastry rounds. To make a border, press a 3cm cutter lightly into the centre of each round, to make an indentation. Prick the middle with a fork, brush with egg and cook on a baking tray for 8-10 mins until golden and risen.
2. For the bacon filling, gently fry the bacon with the shallots for 3-4 mins, stir in the Taleggio with the crème fraîche and allow to melt slightly. Add chives and pine nuts, keeping a few for garnish. Season with black pepper.
3. For the coronation chicken filling, combine the mayo, korma paste and chutney. Add the cooked chicken and stir to combine.
4. Remove the vol-au-vents from the oven, carefully press the middle circle down in each before filling half with the cheesy mixture, then sprinkle with the remaining chives and pine nuts. Fill the rest with the coronation chicken mixture and garnish with the coriander.

Top tip for making cheese & bacon and coronation chicken vol-au-vents

If you don't have a spare egg to use as a wash on the pastry, you can use full-fat milk instead.

You might also like...

• Vol au vent selection
• Canapés
• Party food recipes