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Pea and watercress vol-au-vents

By: Jules Mercer
Former acting food editor, delicious.

Serve these moreish vol au vents with a creamy watercress and pea filling, then top with radish or smoked trout to feed a crowd.

Looking for more party food ideas? How about our gunpowder potato puffs?

Serve these moreish vol au vents with a creamy watercress and pea filling, then top with radish or smoked trout to feed a crowd.

Looking for more party food ideas? How about our gunpowder potato puffs?

Ingredients

For the filling

250g peas, cooked
70g watercress, plus extra sprigs to garnish
30g pecorino or a vegetarian alternative, finely grated, plus extra shavings to garnish
30g toasted walnuts
70g crème fraîche
Grated zest and juice ½ lemon

To serve

You’ll also need

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Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6. Unroll the puff pastry and use a 6.5cm cutter/glass to cut out 48 rounds from the pastry (re-roll the scraps). Put 24 of the rounds on a large lined baking sheet and brush lightly with beaten egg.
With the remaining rounds, cut a 3-4cm circle out of each to form a ring (see Don’t Waste It).
Place the rings on top of the egg-washed rounds, then brush again with egg. Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown, puffed up and cooked through. Set aside to cool.

For the filling, whizz the peas, watercress, cheese and toasted nuts in a food processor. Add the crème fraîche, lemon zest and juice, then season (the cheese may be salty, so go easy).
To fill the vol au vents, spoon in the pea and watercress filling, then top with radish slices or a piece of trout. Garnish with cheese shavings and watercress and serve straightaway.

Nutrition: per serving

Don’t waste it: Use any leftover pastry to make cheese straws: roll out pastry, sprinkle with grated cheese and a little salt, then slice into strips and bake with the vol au vents.
Make the vol au vent cases up to 2 days ahead and store in an airtight container.