Légumes de printemps

Vegetables in Puff Pastry

This is more of an idea than a recipe – as, indeed, the best recipes are. It sounds fabulous in French – Légumes de printemps en pâte feuilletée – and is a great example of the French way of cooking in season with whatever is to hand. It makes a great lunch or light supper dish or even a good starter.

Alex cut some squares of puff pastry from some pastry he’d made earlier, brushed them with a little egg wash, and popped them in the oven pre-heated to about 200C. These were cooked for about 10mins or until they puffed up nice and golden.

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Use any veggies you want – we used carrot, celeriac, green beans, squash, asparagus and mushrooms. To prepare the veg, peel and cut the celeriac and carrots into matchstick pieces, top and tail the beans…you know the drill.

Cook the veg in boiling salted water in order of firmness and cook until almost done eg the carrots will take about 10 minutes, then add the celeriac, then the beans. The idea is to keep the colour and some firmness.

Drain and cool the vegetables in cold water to stop the cooking process.

Clean the mushrooms. Cut them into thick pieces and place them in a non-stick pan. Cook them, with no oil or butter, over a low flame till most of the water that they release has evaporated.

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Add the cold, cooked vegetables and heat through with a good knob of butter. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot with the cooked puff pastry.