Mousselines de Jambon à la Hongroise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor with metal blade
• •Fine-mesh sieve and flexible scraper
• •Four 6-ounce (180 ml) oval molds or ramekins
• •Deep roasting pan for the bain-marie
• •1-quart broiler-safe gratin dish
• •Broiler-safe oval serving platter
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Chill and prepare

   Put the food processor bowl and blade in the cold for twenty minutes. Keep the ham, egg whites, and mousseline cream cold until they are called for. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C), with a rack in the upper third. Butter four 6-ounce (180 ml) oval molds or ramekins thoroughly, bring a saucepan of water to the boil for the cauliflower, and heat a kettle of water for the bain-marie, the water bath used to poach the mousselines gently.

2. 2

   Build Sauce Hongroise

   Melt 2 tablespoons of the sauce butter over medium-low heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring, until completely soft but not browned. Pull the pan from the heat, stir in the tablespoon of paprika for thirty seconds, then add the 2 tablespoons of flour. Return to low heat and cook the roux for one minute without letting the paprika darken. Whisk in the wine and reduce it by half, then add the chicken stock in four additions, whisking each smooth before the next. If the roux seizes into lumps, take the pan from the heat and whisk in the stock a spoonful at a time, then strain it. Ça se rattrape. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, strain, and return the sauce to the clean pan. Add the sauce cream and simmer until Sauce Hongroise coats the back of a spoon while remaining pourable, about 5 minutes. Season carefully with salt and white pepper, then whisk in the final tablespoon of sauce butter away from the heat. Cover and hold warm.

3. 3

   Bake the cauliflower

   Salt the boiling water with 2 teaspoons of the measured salt. Add the cauliflower and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until a knife enters with slight resistance. Drain thoroughly and let the florets dry while you make their cheese coating. Melt the cauliflower butter in a small saucepan, stir in its tablespoon of flour, and cook for one minute. Add the milk gradually, whisking, then simmer for 2 minutes until thick. Fold in two-thirds of the Gruyère and season lightly with salt and white pepper. Coat the cauliflower, arrange it in a small shallow gratin dish, and scatter over the remaining cheese. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the edges bubble and the top is golden. Set it aside loosely covered, then lower the oven to 325°F (165°C).

4. 4

   Make the forcemeat

   Put the cold ham, the 2 teaspoons of mousseline paprika, and about half the remaining white pepper into the chilled processor. Pulse until the ham becomes very fine, then add the egg whites and process in short bursts until the mixture is smooth and tacky. With the machine pulsing, pour in the cold mousseline cream gradually. Stop as soon as the cream is incorporated. Press the forcemeat once through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl set over ice. If the mixture begins to soften or looks greasy at the edge, stop working it and chill it over ice for 10 minutes before continuing. Ça se rattrape. Poach a teaspoonful in barely simmering water for 3 minutes, taste it, and adjust the salt, white pepper, or paprika before filling the molds.

   The test spoonful is essential because cooked ham and stock vary sharply in salt. The raw forcemeat cannot tell you what the finished mousseline will taste like.
5. 5

   Poach the mousselines

   Divide the forcemeat among the buttered molds, pressing it into the corners so no air pockets remain, then smooth the tops. Cover each mold tightly with a small piece of foil. Set them in a deep roasting pan and pour in enough hot water to reach halfway up their sides. Poach in the 325°F (165°C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the centers reach 160°F (71°C) and spring gently beneath a fingertip. The water should barely tremble. If it begins to boil, add a little cold water to the pan and lower the oven slightly; hard boiling makes holes and toughens the edges.

   Do not judge by browning. A poached mousseline remains pale; its signs are a gentle spring, cleanly pulling edges, and the correct center temperature.
6. 6

   Renew the gratin

   Lift the molds from the bain-marie and keep them covered. Turn the broiler to high. Return the cauliflower gratin to the upper rack for 1 to 2 minutes, only until its cheese bubbles at the edges and deepens to a warm bronze. Set it beside the stove and place a broiler-safe oval serving platter nearby.

7. 7

   Drain and arrange

   Run a thin knife around each mold and invert the mousselines onto a folded clean kitchen towel. Blot their bases and sides gently, then arrange them evenly in a circle on the serving platter, leaving a generous open space in the center. If one tears, set the torn side downward. The sauce will cover the evidence, and the texture beneath remains perfectly sound.

8. 8

   Sauce and glaze

   Reheat Sauce Hongroise over gentle heat. If it has tightened while standing, loosen it with a spoonful of hot water; it must flow slowly, not sit like paste. Spoon it over every mousseline so each is completely coated, with a little sauce pooling around the ring. Place the platter about 6 inches (15 cm) beneath the broiler for 45 to 90 seconds, just until the sauce gleams and takes the faintest bronze at its highest points. Glaze quickly and watch without interruption. This step is measured in seconds.

9. 9

   Set the center

   Withdraw the glazed platter from the oven. With a broad serving spoon, transfer the baked cauliflower into the center, keeping its browned cheese uppermost and building the fine, generous heap called for by the dish. Carry the platter straight to the table while the sauce still holds its gloss. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use sweet Hungarian paprika with a fresh, round pepper fragrance. Smoked paprika takes the dish somewhere else, and stale paprika contributes only red dust. Bloom it gently in butter away from direct heat because scorched paprika turns bitter.
• •Choose a cooked, unsmoked ham in the style of jambon de Paris, with clear pork flavor and as little added water as possible. Dry-cured or heavily smoked ham overwhelms the cream and makes the forcemeat too salty.
• •Cold is the discipline. If the processor bowl feels warm beneath your hand, stop and chill it. The molds support a soft forcemeat, but they cannot repair an emulsion that was allowed to separate.
• •Serve with a dry Alsace Pinot Gris or a restrained white Burgundy. Both have enough body for the cream and cheese without burying the paprika.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare Sauce Hongroise through the stock reduction one day ahead, then chill it promptly. Reheat gently and add the cream and final butter shortly before serving.
• •Blanch the cauliflower and assemble it with its cheese coating up to one day ahead. Keep it covered in the cold, then bake it while the mousseline ingredients and equipment chill.
• •The forcemeat can be made and packed into its molds up to 4 hours ahead. Keep the covered molds cold and poach them near serving time so their texture remains delicate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 475g)