February

Vol-au-Vent Financière (préparation : 15 minutes; cuisson : 25-30 minutes)

This is wonderful entrée that you can use throughout Fall and Winter and into the beginning of Spring.  It is particularly prevalent on menus, in supermarkets over the Christmas holiday season. You can even find the puff pastry molds already made, or make your own pâté feuilletée, but I prefer to make them myself with store bought pâte feuilletée pastry dough.

For la Sauce financière, you will need :

75 g of champignons de Paris

50 g Blanc de poulet cuit 

50 g jambon blanc

40 g beurre 

20 g farine 

2 dl fond blanc de volaille 

1/2 verre de vin blanc

Thyme , Laurier

0,5 dl Madère

Sel, poivre 

Option, pelures de truffe

Clean and finely cut the champignons in butter in a pan for 10/15 minutes.

Cut the poulet and jambon in to small squares, mix them into the pan with the champignons. Add the farine and cook for several minutes to get a roux brun.  
Prepare le fond de volaille and pour it over the mix in the pan. Add le vin blanc. Mix well, adding in some Thym and Laurier , adding in salt and pepper, letting it simmer over a low flame for about 20 minutes.

The sauce should be creamy and not too thick.  Add in the truffles and the Madère.