DAY 1 - Herbes de Provence
This is easily one of our most popular blends. We have been selling this blend for 17 years and obviously our recipe has got it right.
HERBES DE PROVENCE is a traditional mixture of dried herbs from the Provence region. Each herb adds its own unique characteristic to the blend. The LAVENDER is sweet and floral, the TARRAGON has an ANISE taste, the CELERY SEED is light and fresh, the BAY LEAF brings the bass note. The MARJORAM, PARSLEY and THYME help blend and mellow the flavours.
Here is a recipe for everyone to enjoy.
Vol au Vents with Creamy Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 350 g all butter puff pastry
- plain flour , for dusting
- 1 free-range egg
- 250 g mixed mushrooms
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 dried red chilli , optional
- 2 tsps of herbes de provence
- olive oil
- 1/2 lemon
- 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375º and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm thick. Using a small cutter or wine glass, about 6cm across, cut out 12 rounds (you may need to re-roll the pastry).
- Place the circles on the baking tray and prick their centres several times with a fork. Beat the egg, then eggwash the circles. Bake on the top shelf of the oven for about 12 minutes until puffed up, crisp and golden.
- Roughly chop or tear the mushrooms, peel and finely slice the garlic, and crumble the chilli (if using).
- Heat a lug of oil in a large pan and cook the mushrooms, garlic and chilli (if using), until golden and add the herbes de provence
- Off the heat, squeeze in the lemon juice, then add the crème fraîche. If the mushrooms are too dry, add a splash of water to loosen the sauce.
- For the vol-au-vents, cut a very thin layer off the top of each circle and use your knife to carefully hollow out a hole in each one.
- Fill with the creamy mushrooms and serve – you can pop the pastry lids back on, if you wish.