Creamy mushroom puffs

Mushroom puffs with quail egg & thyme

"I think we have a winner!" declared my friend D as he munched his way through this little bite sized canape.  This was the same afternoon tea that I made the prawns with garlic aioli.  "Yes", he nodded, "this is my favourite".

I'd made this mushroom canape many years ago but using short crust pastry as a base.  We already had a strawberry tart on the menu so I decided to use puff pastry instead, which makes this recipe quite similar to the mushroom vol au vents that had their heydays in the 80s.  The good thing is that this version is simpler to make. I like simple.

This recipe makes you about 12 of these little puffs. 

You will need:

• read made puff pastry, one large sheet (around 30 cm x 30 cm)
• cookie cutter, around 5-6 cm.  You can use larger puffs of course but
• regular sized muffin tray
• 10 large brown mushrooms, sliced
  
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 large sprig of parsley
• 1 small sprig of thyme 
• 6 quail eggs
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup of cream
• 2 tablespoons milk
•  salt & pepper to taste

Puff pastry shells

You can find the frozen puff pastry in the frozen section of most supermarkets.  It's either rolled up so it comes like cling wrap which you can unroll or flat sheets.  I find that London has the rolled up ones, whereas in Australia they tend to come as flat packs.  Both work fine but with the rolled up variety the important thing is to wait until it's defrosted before you unroll otherwise they will break pretty easily.  I usually let them sit out for about 10-15 mins before I need to use it.  That said, if you leave it too long they will completely defrost and getting a bit soggy which can be hard to handle.

To make the puff pastry shells, cut out the round shapes of the puff pastry with your cookie cutter.  You can use a plain round one or a "scalloped" one shown below.  I had no idea the curly edged ones were called "scalloped" until A looked it up for me but there you go.  Brush the muffin trays with some of the olive oil and place your round puff pastry into each muffin hole, pushing down so it makes a nice little cup shape.  Brush the puff pastry with a little milk.  This will give it the nice golden colour as it bakes.

[Note: At this stage, you can either place the mushroom mixture on top of the puffy pastry (which will help weigh the pastry down, but means your pastry won't be as crisp), or line the pastry with baking paper and baking beans/rice and "blind bake".  I tried the latter but the puff pastry was too strong and puffed up anyway!  I would just let the puff pastry puff up which is kinda fun, and then press it down as described below to create the cavity you need to add the mixture. ]

Place in a pre-heated oven (170 degrees celcius) and bake for 10 mins or until light golden brown.  Now you'll find that it has completely puffed up.  We want to create a hole in the middle of the puff where you want to place the mushroom mixture. So using a spoon or other round heavy object which will leave about half to one cm rim around the pastry shell (I used the top of my wine stopper), push down the middle so that you create a bowl shape.

Mushroom filling

Pan fry the sliced onions in hot olive oil with the chopped garlic and parsley until the mushrooms are nice and golden brown.  Add the cream and cook for another 10 mins until you get a thick consistency, add the salt & pepper to taste.

Boil the quail eggs for 3 mins and peel like normal hard boiled eggs, or 1 mins for a soft runny yolk. Slice in half.  Be careful to spoon the quail eggs gently into the pan of boiling water and not to cook them for too long otherwise they will implode, the shells are incredibly thin.  You'll see in the picture below that I had that accident with a few of my eggs!

Putting it all together

This is my favourite part.  Spoon the mushroom mixture into the puff pastry shell until it is just full.  Top with the halved quail egg and a sprig of thyme.  Voila!  Ready to be served.

What I like about this canape is that the puff pastry is incredibly light but when you bite into it you get this burst of creamy herby mushrooms.  The quail egg on top adds an extra richness and luxe factor as a canape.

King prawn toast with whole grain mustard aioli

Perfect for afternoon tea or canapes

This was a bit of an experiment for an afternoon tea we had at our place recently.  The whole recipe is very simple though, and will only take about 20 mins to put together.

Ingredients:
(makes 12)

• 6 pieces of sliced bread (I used white but you could use wholemeal)
• a scalloped cookie cutter around 5-6 cm
• 12 pieces of cooked king prawn (they came pre-cooked from my supermarket but you can gently cook them until they are pink if you can't find the cooked variety)
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced into 3-4 mm slices
• sprigs of fresh parsley to decorate

For the aioli: 

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
• 2 table spoons lemon juice
• salt & pepper to taste

Aioli is basically garlic mayonnaise.  I first discovered it in Spain when it was served on top of a tortilla, and then together with fiduea, which I call the noodle version of paella.  Fiduea is deserving of its own post some other day when I manage to make it!  Anyway back to aioli, the creamy mayo with the garlic kick just brings out the flavour of foods, particularly seafood, so well.  Now I find it hard to have tortilla without it.  Aioli goes really well with prawns but I didn't have time to make the aioli from scratch so I experimented a bit with the store bought mayo.

1. 

   Scalloped cookie cutter

   Using the cookie cutter, cut two rings of bread from each slice of bread.
2. Toast the bread in the oven at around 180 degrees celcius until just golden brown, which should take around 5-10 mins.
3. While the bread is toasting, you can make your aioli.  Chop your garlic as finely as possible, using a food processor if possible.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly - it should be a nice thick consistency.  You can vary the quantities of the ingredients depending on your taste, e.g. whether you like it more tangy (more lemon) or garlicky! 
4. Place a slice of cucumber on the toast, topped by a small spoonful of aioli and then the king prawn.  The aioli will help keep the prawn in place.
5. Add a sprig of parsley.
6. Serve within 2-3 hours. 

Tomatoes with garlic breadcrumbs

Simple tasty addition to any main course dinner

Ingredients:

- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large sprig of parsley
- half cup olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic
- 4 medium size tomatoes, halved
- one tea spoon sea salt

Pulse all ingredients together until it is a light mixture, then scoop a large spoonful onto the tomatoes.  Grill for 20 mins or until tops of breadcrumbs are browned.