How to make
For the filling: Put the ricotta, artichoke, the clove of garlic, black pepper and salt in a blender or food processor and blend. Then add the capers, finely chopped parsley and mix. If you decide to add anchovies, first cut them into small pieces with the kitchen shears. You can replace the capers with green olives. The quantities are also according to taste.
For the puff pastry: To prepare this vol-au-vent recipe with a size of 2.5x1.2″ (6x3 cm) or 4x2.4″ (10x6 cm), start by rolling out the puff pastry.
When the puff pastry has been rolled out to 0.2″ (5 mm) (it should be thick), cut out circles from the puff pastry with a regular round cookie cutter for mini vol-au-vent or 10 cm for larger ones. Each time you cut the puff pastry, check that the circle has been cut by gently sliding it on a floured work surface.
Cut out as many puff pastry circles as possible.
Carefully place 12 or 6 puff pastry circles on baking paper.
On half of the cut out circles, remove the center with a second cookie cutter with a smaller diameter. I used one with a diameter of 1.2″ (3 cm) or 2.5″ (6 cm) diameter mold (for the bigger ones). The shape can be rippled to have a greater effect.
Do the same to all the puff pastry cirlces, in order to form rings.
An egg yolk beaten with a little water is brushed on the cirlces on top, so that they can aquire a crispy crust.
Carefully place the rings onto the whole circles. The water and yolk mixture, will act as glue, in order to make the two layers of puff pastry stick together well.
Place the finished vol-au-vent onto baking paper in the refrigerator for 2 hours before baking them. The vol-au-vent can be made a day in advance and baked the next day to avoid shrinkage of the puff pastry during baking. It happened to me, because I was in a hurry.
The next day, take them out from the refrigerator, brush the edges with egg yolk once more.
Place the baking paper on your baking tray. It is best to use baking paper.
Place the puff pastry baskets in a preheated with a fan oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
Leave them to cool and prepare the filling for the savory vol-au-vent, which takes exactly 5 minutes.
Fill the well-chilled Ricotta and Capers Vol-au-vent and serve them. Enjoy!
