Vol-au-vents

Thank goodness, today you can make better and lighter vol au vents than you could in the past by simply buying some good quality butter puff pastry, rolling it to about ¼cm thick and leaving it to rest for a couple of hours. Cut your pastry into about 4cm squares or rounds depending on how dainty you require them.

Score a line about cm around the inside edge with the point of a knife then glaze with a beaten egg. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 200C/gas mark 6 and cook for about 10 minutes until golden. The centre can be then just pushed in or re-cut out with the point of a knife.

Fillings can vary, but the main thing is that they should be tasty and fresh. Stodgy béchamel, with prawns or chicken, used to be the common filling.

One good idea is to poach some quails' eggs and lay them on spinach with a little of your favourite hollandaise sauce. Poaching quails' eggs is not as difficult as you might imagine. Simply crack your raw quails' eggs into some white vinegar, with the help of a small knife to crack the shell, then tip the contents into a pan of simmering water. Each one will then form a miniature poached egg that can be lifted out with a slotted spoon after, say, 30 seconds.

Kedgeree or coronation chicken also make good fillings and you could even try prawn cocktail, too.

* In the video below, Mark Hix demonstrates how to make his poached quails' eggs vol-au-vents