Cheese Mousse Vol-au-Vents

The “Cheese Mousse Vol-au-Vents” are an elegant and refined dish, excellent for appetizers or aperitifs. We will prepare the vol-au-vents, which are small containers made of puff pastry, and fill them with a delicate cheese mousse. For an Italian twist, we could use a creamy Italian cheese like ricotta or mascarpone.

Ingredients for the vol-au-vents:

• Ready-made puff pastry, 1 roll
• 1 egg yolk (for glazing)

Ingredients for the cheese mousse:

• 250g of soft cheese (for example: ricotta or mascarpone)
• 50g of fresh cream
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Chopped chives, for garnishing
• Other flavors to taste (such as grated lemon zest or aromatic herbs)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
2. Roll out the puff pastry and use a round cutter (or a glass) to cut out circles. Use a smaller cutter to make another circle in the center of half of the disks, to create rings.
3. Brush the base of the full disks with the beaten egg yolk, then overlay the rings, press lightly to make them adhere, and also brush the top surface with the egg.
4. Bake on a baking tray lined with parchment paper for about 12-15 minutes or until they are golden.
5. In the meantime, prepare the cheese mousse: work the cheese with a spatula until it is creamy, then incorporate the whipped cream, and season with salt and pepper to your taste.
6. Once the vol-au-vents have cooled, gently remove the central “lid” and fill the inside with the cheese mousse.
7. Garnish with chopped chives and serve.

Curiosity

The term “vol-au-vent” means “fly in the wind” in French, symbolizing the lightness of this puff pastry preparation which, if well executed, should be as light as if it could “fly away with a breath of wind”.

To make the dish even more Italian, you could add to the recipe some light pesto or chopped sun-dried tomatoes to give an extra touch of color and flavor.