Categories: Recipe

Pasteitje: Dutch Vol-Au-Vent

Add to Collection Go to Collections
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe Jump to Video

Growing up, my mom wouldn’t make pasteitjes too often. It was reserved for very special occasions, such as the meal after midnight mass on Christmas Eve, or Easter brunch. 

I thought of it as one of the most luxurious foods: a flaky, buttery, golden brown pastry cup, filled with warm, rich gravy and soft, melt-in-your-mouth beef. 

It’s not necessarily a complicated recipe, but there are a lot of areas that require you to pay attention:

  • Puff pastry:
    • Keep the dough cold while you’re handling it
    • Cut the pastry with a sharp cutter, making sure you’re not crimping the edges together
    • When putting egg wash on, stay away from the edges; egg wash on the sides will hamper the dough from rising
  • Roux:
    • Make sure it stays perfectly blond
    • Cook it long enough to get rid of the raw flour taste
  • Ragout
    • While mixing in the broth, make sure there are no lumps
    • Adjusting the seasoning

As I got older, I started reading a lot of classic French cookbooks, including ones by Escoffier. This entire recipe is basically a combination of a lot of French classics:

  • Making a clear stock (I cheat with the bouillon cubes if I don’t have any stock left in my freezer)
  • Making a roux
  • Making a velouté
  • Making puff pastry into a vol-au-vent

I make ragout quite often, but the puff pastry part is definitely saved for special occasions!! 

There are many variations possible here:

  • Create a chicken broth, and add pieces of chicken instead of beef.
  • Make a vegetable broth and add mushrooms, celery, peas, and some green onions.
Print Add to Collection Go to Collections

Pasteitje: Dutch Vol-Au-Vent

These pasteitjes are the perfect combination of tender meat in a smooth, warm gravy, and wrapped in a buttery, flaky puff pastry cup! Typically, when I make these, I spread the work out over two days. However, if you plan it out correctly, it is definitely doable in a single day.
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Dutch
Keyword Beef, Dutch Food, pastry, Puff Pastry
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes
Servings 8 pasteitjes
Calories 705kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

Ragout

  • 1 kg Brisket
  • 1.5 l Water
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 120 g Unsalted butter
  • 120 g All purpose flour
  • 1 pinch Nutmeg
  • 1 tsp Yellow mustard
  • 1 tsp Distilled white vinegar
  • Salt
  • Ground black pepper
  • 2 Beef Bouillon Cubes

Pastry cups

  • 2 Sheets puff pastry
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tbsp Milk
  • 1 pinch Salt
Metric - US Customary
Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

Make broth and beef

  • Prepare your brisket. Remove all the silver skin and most of the fat. Depending on the size of the pot you're using, you may have to cut it into pieces. Try to keep the pieces as large as your pot can handle.
  • For this recipe, I'm using an InstantPot to create the broth, and prepare the meat. The reason for this is pure laziness on my side: I don't want to babysit a pot for hours.
    I am also using bouillon cubes (since that is what my mother does), so the only thing I am adding to the broth is a bay leaf. If you'd like to make this without bouillon cubes, please add some roasted vegetables and shanks to the pot while you're cooking the meat.
    Instructions for the InstantPot
    Add your brisket, bay leaf, and water to your InstantPot and run it for 1 hour at high pressure. Use a natural release for 15 minutes.
    Instructions for stovetop
    Put your brisket, bay leaf, and water in a Dutch oven and bring to a soft boil. Once it boils, lower the flame, put the lid on your pot, and let it simmer on a low flame for 3 hours. Pay attention to the pot to make sure the water level never drops below the brisket.
  • Remove the meat from the broth, and cut it into 1.25cm (1/2 inch) squares. It may fall apart, and that is OK. We want to make sure that the strands of the beef are not going to be too long. Long strands make for an unpleasant eating experience later! Let the meat cool a bit, then put it in an airtight container, and move it to the fridge.
  • Instructions for the InstantPot Remove your bay leaf. Without a lid, set the InstantPot to Sautée mode (high). Let this reduce until the level of the liquid is approximately 2/3rd of what you started with. Skim any impurities off the top. Instructions for stovetop Your broth should already be reduced to approximately 2/3rd. If it's significantly lower, you can add some water to reach that level. Remove your bay leaf, and skim any impurities off the top.
  • I use BOU Beef Bouillon cubes, where 1 cube is good for 500ml (16.9 oz) of liquid. We should have approximately 1L (34oz) of liquid, so 2 cubes are all it takes. If you are using a different brand of bouillon cubes, please adjust the quantity based on the instructions on the packaging. With the broth removed from the heat, add in two bouillon cubes and stir until fully dissolved. Transfer the broth to an airtight container, and put it in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight, until it's fully cooled.

Pastry cups

  • Make an egg wash by mixing egg, milk, and a pinch of salt together until it's a smooth mixture.
  • When working with puff pastry, it is very important to keep it as cool as possible. So, please work quickly, and don't handle the dough more than necessary. Lightly drag a fork over the entire sheet of puff pastry, creating vertical lines. When you stack the pastry before baking, matching up the lines you made will ensure it puffs evenly in the oven.
  • You’ll need 2 round cookie cutters. A large one, and one about an inch smaller in diameter. With the larger cookie cutter, cut 16 circles out of your puff pastry. You’re going to take half of the circles, and using the small cookie cutter, cut a hole out of the center to make a ring. Make sure you center the ring before cutting. If the rings aren’t uniform, they’ll bake unevenly You should have:
    • 8 large full circles
    • 8 large rings
    • 8 small circles
  • Prepare two cookie sheets, and line them with parchment paper.Transfer all the large circles and rings to one cookie sheet, and the small circles to the second cookie sheet.Put them in the fridge for 1 hour
  • After the pastry has rested in the fridge for an hour, take it out, and brush the outside of the large circles with some water. This will help make sure the ring sticks to the circle while baking. Place one ring on top of a circle. Be sure the lines are going in the same direction. Repeat this step for each circle and ring. You should end up with a total of 8 circles with rings on top. With a fork, poke lots of holes on the bottom of the circle. This is called docking, which will prevent the bottom of the pastry from puffing up too much during the baking.
  • Brush the top of the rings lightly with the egg wash, make sure there is no egg wash on the sides (that will prevent them from puffing up). Brush the top of the smaller circles with egg wash also.Place both cookie sheets back in the fridge for 15 minutes, while you preheat the oven to 190ºC (375F) non-convection.
    If you're using store-bought puff pastry, follow the temperatures on the package.
  • After 15 minutes, and when your oven has finished preheating, place the sheets in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. If you're using store-bought puff pastry, follow the cooking times on the package. Pay attention to the pastries. They should be golden brown, but not too dark. You may have to remove the smaller circles before the cups, they will brown faster, and you don't want them to burn.
  • Let the pastries cool on a rack.

Ragout

  • Do not begin your roux until your broth is fully cooled. In a large saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter.
  • Once the butter is melted, still over low heat, slowly add the flour in, stirring constantly.Once all the flour is fully incorporated, cook it for at least ]5 minutes. It should look like sand and have a mostly white color. If you don't cook the mixture after you've incorporated all the flour, you'll taste raw flour in the final product.
    if you'd like to make this gluten-free, you can use sweet rice flour, instead of all-purpose flour. You'll need the exact same measurement.
  • Now it's time to add the cold broth to the cooked flour and butter. Set your burner to medium, and slowly add in a quarter of broth. Keep stirring to make sure there are no lumps. Once it's fully combined, repeat this three more times until all the broth has been added.Keep stirring, and wait until it comes to a gentle boil. Cook this for 5 more minutes. The sauce should coat the back of a spoon, and when you run your finger through it, it shouldn't run back together.
  • Add in salt, pepper, nutmeg, mustard, and vinegar, and stir well. Taste, and adjust to your liking. The vinegar and mustard should help to brighten up the sauce, but they shouldn't be recognizable flavors. There is no salt added to the beef, so keep that in mind as you taste this.
  • Add the cut-up pieces of beef to the roux, and warm it through over a low flame, making sure it doesn't come to a boil. Taste, and adjust seasoning as necessary.
  • Now it's time to plate!! Put the pastry on a plate, and fill it with the warm ragout. Add a sprig of fresh parsley, and cover the cup with the lid.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 705kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 46g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 130mg | Sodium: 523mg | Potassium: 485mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 410IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 5mg
Toine

Leave a Comment
Share
Published by
Toine
Tags: BeefChristmasDutch FoodEasterPastryPuff Pastry
6 years ago

Recent Posts

Kip Saté kroket: Dutch Croquette made with Chicken in Indonesian Peanut Sauce

Learn to make a satékroket, the Dutch snackbar croquette filled with chicken in Indonesian peanut…

2 weeks ago

Wentelteefjes: Dutch French Toast

Wentelteefjes are Dutch French toast made from day-old white bread, fried in butter and finished…

4 weeks ago

Keizerbroodjes Recipe: Hand-Folded Kaiser Rolls

A proper keizerbroodje wasn't going to show up on a hospice cafeteria tray, so when…

1 month ago

Homemade Chocoladeboter: Real Butter Dutch Chocolate Spread

How to make chocoladeboter at home with real butter instead of margarine, a firm, cocoa-forward…

1 month ago

An Update, and the Rest of the Story

Back in January, I wrote a short post called "Taking a Moment, With Gratitude." I…

3 months ago

Eierkoeken Recipe: How to Make Authentic Dutch Egg Cakes at Home

Learn how to make eierkoeken — soft, pillowy Dutch egg cakes with golden edges and…

6 months ago