vol-au-vent

noun

Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from French vol-au-vent (“windblown”, literally “flight in the wind”).

1. A small circular piece of puff pastry with a hole for various fillings, such as mushrooms, prawns, fruit, cheese, etc.

   “Ray Carling: Some nicely chilled Blue Nun and some vol-au-vents? This is Manc the Knife, is it?... Chris Skelton: What's a vol-au-vent?... Ray: It's a puff pastry shell filled with a savory meat mixture... Chris: You mean a pie, then?”

   “A few offered to come for me, but they’re all up to their eyes in flans and vols-au-vent and God knows what else, so I told them I’d made my own arrangements.”