Poulet Sauté Champeaux

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30-cm) heavy sauté pan with a lid
• •¾-inch (2-cm) melon baller or small turning knife
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Small whisk
• •Warmed oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the chicken

   Take the chicken from the cold about 20 minutes before cooking. Pat every piece completely dry, then season it with most of the salt and all the pepper, keeping a little salt for the onions and potatoes. Measure the wine, veal gravy, and meat glaze before the fire is lit, and leave the finishing butter in the cold. Fill the serving platter with hot water so it will be warm when the chicken is dished.

2. 2

   Glaze the onions

   Melt 1½ tablespoons of the cooking butter in a heavy 12-inch sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the pearl onions and a small pinch of the measured salt, cover, and roll them around the pan every few minutes until tender at the center and evenly pale gold, about 12 to 15 minutes. Keep the heat patient; scorched butter makes bitter onions. If they color before a knife enters easily, lower the heat and cover again so their own moisture finishes the centers. Lift the onions to a plate.

3. 3

   Cook the pommes noisette

   Add 2 tablespoons of cooking butter to the same pan, followed by the pommes noisette and another small pinch of salt. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 6 minutes, shaking the pan often, then uncover and continue for 8 to 10 minutes until the potato balls are tender inside and evenly butter-gold outside. If the exteriors brown too quickly, lower the heat and cover for another few minutes. Transfer them to the plate with the onions and wipe away any loose potato crumbs without scrubbing off the pan's browned glaze.

4. 4

   Sauté the chicken

   Add the remaining cooking butter to the pan in two additions and raise the heat to medium-high. When the butter foams briskly, sauté the chicken in two uncrowded batches, skin-side down first, until the skin is deep gold and releases cleanly, about 5 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second. Keep the heat lively but not fierce, because butter should brown, not blacken. Return the thighs and drumsticks to the pan, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 6 minutes. Add the breast pieces, cover again, and cook until the breasts reach 160°F / 71°C and the dark meat reaches at least 170°F / 77°C, another 6 to 10 minutes. Resting will carry the breasts safely to 165°F / 74°C.

5. 5

   Dish the garnish

   Empty and dry the warmed platter. Arrange the chicken in the center and surround it with the butter-glazed onions and pommes noisette, exactly as the entry directs. Cover loosely while the sauce is finished. Dishing now is deliberate: it leaves the pan free for an honest reduction and lets the chicken rest without surrendering its juices.

6. 6

   Reduce the pan sauce

   Pour off the loose cooking fat while leaving the browned fond in the pan. Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the white wine, and swill it across the floor while scraping up every browned morsel. Reduce until only a syrupy spoonful remains and the raw wine smell is gone. Add the prepared veal gravy and meat glaze, stir until smooth, and simmer until the sauce is nappant, coating the back of a spoon in a clear, glossy layer. This is the moment that decides the dish. If the sauce is still watery, reduce it now; if it has tightened or become too salty, loosen it with cold water a teaspoon at a time. Do not try to correct its thickness after the finishing butter is added.

7. 7

   Monter au beurre

   Monter au beurre, or mount the sauce with butter: take the pan completely away from the fire and wait until the bubbling stops. Whisk in the cold butter one cube at a time, adding the next only when the previous cube has disappeared. The sauce should become supple, bright, and slightly thicker without feeling greasy. If it separates into an oily slick, stop. Ça se rattrape: put 1 teaspoon of cold water in a clean bowl, then whisk the broken sauce into it a spoonful at a time until the emulsion returns. Taste only now for salt, pour the sauce immediately over the chicken and garnishes, and never return it to a boil. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Jus de veau, the veal gravy meant here, is an unthickened brown veal jus with natural gelatin, not flour-thickened roast gravy from a packet. Buy it from a good butcher or frozen-stock supplier, and use a separate, highly concentrated meat glaze that sets firm in the cold.
• •The unusual 95 ml measure for veal gravy is deliberate: it is the home equivalent of the entry's one-sixth pint. Keep that quantity, the tablespoon of meat glaze, and the full 43 g of finishing butter. Those proportions build the sauce.
• •A small melon baller makes honest pommes noisette quickly. Save the potato trimmings for soup, a purée, or tomorrow's omelette. Frozen peeled pearl onions are also perfectly sound for a weeknight; thaw them and dry them well before they meet the butter.
• •Use a dry white wine with enough acidity to cut the butter, such as Bourgogne Aligoté or an unoaked Chardonnay, and pour the same wine at the table. The sauce is best immediately; refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and keep them for up to 2 days, then reheat very gently without boiling.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken may be jointed up to one day ahead and refrigerated uncovered on a rack. The exposed surface dries well and browns more readily; season it shortly before cooking.
• •Peel the onions and shape the pommes noisette up to 8 hours ahead. Keep the onions covered in the cold and hold the potatoes in cold water, then drain and dry them completely before cooking.
• •The veal gravy and meat glaze can be measured a day ahead and kept chilled. Finish the sauce only when the platter is ready, because a sauce mounted with butter is meant to go straight to the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 435g)