Oyster Vol-Au-Vents
photo by Outta Here
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 13
- Yields:
-
24 Oyster Vol-au-vents
ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 small bay leaf
- 2 slices onions, thin slices
- 5 black peppercorns
- 1 small celery rib, sliced
- 30 g butter
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons plain flour
- sea salt, to taste
- fresh ground white pepper, to taste
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 24 small bottled oysters, drained
- 24 small vol-au-vent cases
- 1 tablespoon chives, to garnish
directions
- Pat the oysters dry with paper towels and set aside.
- Prepare béchamel sauce by combining the milk, bay leaf, onion, peppercorns and celery in a small, heavy-based saucepan, over a medium heat until bubbles form around the edge of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and stand at room temperature for 15 minutes to cool. Strain and reserve the milk.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan until hot and bubbling. Add the flour and stir constantly for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and gradually add the milk, whisking constantly to avoid the sauce from becoming lumpy.
- Return the saucepan to the heat and cook the sauce, stirring constantly on a medium-high heat until it comes to the boil and thickens. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
- Spoon 1 teaspoon of béchamel sauce into the base of each vol-au-vent case, top with an oyster and spoon over a little extra béchamel sauce.
- Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and hot. Just before serving, sprinkle with chopped chives.
- Note: These vol-au-vents can be prepared a few hours in advance and put in the oven just before they are required.
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Reviews
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This is a definite winner. 10 stars!!!! I was serving these as a lunch dish, so I used the large pastry shells, and put two oysters in each. I think we will have these often, since oysters are so plentiful here. I liked the milk process, with the onions, etc, which added more flavor to the bechamel. Made for Spring 2009 PAC.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
July 2008 update: VERY happy to be back on Zaar after about a two year absence due to having had no internet connection at home, and having been too unwell for a time so that getting re-connected wasn't even a priority!
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<br>And really looking forward to getting back into the Zaar world and connecting again with the many wonderful people I knew before, and new people, of course!