Vol-au-Vent, Toulouse

Puff pastry filled with chicken quenelles, mushrooms and truffles.

Prepare one-half pound of puff paste, giving it six turns. Roll the paste out to about two inches in thickness, and with a small round tin cutter divide the paste into rounds; with another tin cutter, one inch smaller in diameter than the one just used, cut three parts through the center of each round of paste, thus forming the lids. Place the cases on a baking-sheet in a moderate oven, and bake until done, and nicely browned. Then lift up the middle pieces carefully and scoop out the underdone paste. Prepare a few quenelles of chicken forcemeat, place them in a saucepan with the flesh of half of a cooked cold chicken cut into small pieces, two ounces of chopped cooked tongue, three or four sliced truffles, five or six mushrooms, three cockscombs and one-half pint of supreme sauce. Stir the above mixture over the fire until hot, though not boiling, fill the vol-au-vents with it, arrange them on a folded napkin or an ornamental dish-paper laid on a hot dish, and serve without delay. The cases should only be filled when ready to serve, as if left standing long the mixture in them is likely to make them heavy.