Mignonnettes de Poulet

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small covered saucepan for mushroom liquor
• •Small saucepan for poaching the chicken breast
• •Food processor and fine-mesh sieve
• •Shallow 13 by 9-inch baking dish
• •Parchment paper and 8 wooden toothpicks
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •12 to 14-inch round serving platter
• •Warm sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Make mushroom liquor

   Put the mushrooms, water, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the butter, and a pinch of the salt in a small saucepan. Cover and simmer gently for 8 minutes, until the mushrooms surrender their liquor but remain pale. Strain without pressing, reserve the mushrooms for another meal, and measure the liquid. If you have more than 1/3 cup, reduce it uncovered to 1/3 cup (80 ml / 80 g); if you have less, add enough water to reach that amount. This small extraction replaces the brigade pan of mushrooms kept ready for service.

2. 2

   Poach the purée chicken

   Bring the chicken stock to the barest simmer in a small saucepan. Add the chicken breast, cover, and poach gently for 10 to 12 minutes, turning once, until its centre reaches 160°F (71°C). Lift it out and rest it for 5 minutes so it reaches 165°F (74°C), then reserve the stock. Hard boiling tightens the meat and gives the purée a grainy backbone, so keep the liquid at a quiet tremble.

3. 3

   Make the white purée

   Cut the warm poached breast into small pieces and put them in a food processor with 2 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, the white pepper, and half the cream. Process until smooth, scraping the bowl often, then add only enough remaining cream to make a very white, dense purée that holds a rounded spoonful without spreading. Press it through a fine sieve for the classical finish and hold it covered over warm water. If the purée slumps, ça se rattrape: stir it over low heat for a minute to evaporate excess moisture. If it is too stiff or grainy, beat in warm reserved stock one teaspoon at a time.

4. 4

   Contise and shape

   Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Pat the tenderloins dry and lay them with their smooth outer faces upward. Make six short, shallow, diagonal incisions across each fillet without cutting through, then contise them, meaning half-insert alternating roundels of truffle and tongue into the cuts, three of each per fillet. Season the undersides lightly. Curve each fillet into a ring with the decorated side facing outward and pin the narrow end to the thick end with a toothpick. If a cut goes through, lay its roundel over the opening and position that side inside the ring. Once pinned, it will hold.

   Keep the tenderloins cold while you work. Warm chicken softens, tears easily, and refuses to hold a neat ring.
5. 5

   Prepare the artichokes

   If using frozen artichoke bottoms, simmer them in lightly salted water until a paring knife enters easily, usually 8 to 12 minutes, then drain and dry them well. Trim each into a neat round and cut shallow V-shaped notches around the rim to form the indented edge described in the original preparation. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a wide skillet and warm the bottoms gently on both sides without browning. Arrange them in a circle on a warmed round platter, spoon about 2 tablespoons of chicken purée onto each, and shape the purée into a smooth dome. Cover loosely while the mignonnettes cook.

6. 6

   Warm the Suprême

   Warm the prepared Suprême sauce in a small saucepan over low heat, whisking gently until it flows in a soft ribbon and naps the back of a spoon. Do not boil it. If a skin forms, whisk it back in; if the sauce has tightened while cold, loosen it with reserved warm chicken stock one tablespoon at a time. Keep it covered over the gentlest heat and pour it into a warm sauceboat just before serving.

7. 7

   Poach six minutes

   Use 1 tablespoon of butter to coat a shallow baking dish and the remaining tablespoon to butter a sheet of parchment. Set the chicken rings in the dish without crowding and sprinkle the mushroom cooking liquor around and over them. Cover closely with the parchment, buttered side down, and seal the dish with a lid or foil. Poach in the oven for 5 to 6 minutes. Check the thickest ring immediately: it should register 160°F (71°C), then reach 165°F (74°C) during its brief rest. If it is below temperature, cover again and cook in 1-minute increments. Do not wait for browning. A mignonnette is meant to remain pale, tender, and glossy.

8. 8

   Build the platter

   Remove the toothpicks without disturbing the truffle and tongue. Set one mignonnette squarely upon each domed artichoke bottom, keeping the arrangement in a clean circle and letting the contised outer surfaces show. Spoon any clear buttery poaching juices around the bases, never over the decoration. Bring the platter to the table at once with the delicate Suprême sauce served separately. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Buy true chicken tenderloins if possible. They are the small inner fillets from beneath the breast, naturally suited to curling; sliced breast meat is broader, coarser, and harder to shape without tearing.
• •A small preserved whole black truffle is the honest pantry answer when fresh truffles are not in season. Truffle paste cannot be cut into the visible roundels the contiser requires, and truffle oil has no place here.
• •Ask a good butcher for a thin slice of cooked veal or beef tongue. Its gentle saltiness and rose colour are part of the alternating decoration, so deli ham changes both the flavour and the structure.
• •Frozen artichoke bottoms are preferable to tired fresh artichokes and usually firmer than heavily acidulated canned ones. If jarred bottoms are your only option, rinse them well and dry them thoroughly before they meet the butter.
• •Serve with a restrained white Burgundy or a dry Champagne. The wine needs enough body for truffle, cream, and tongue, but enough freshness to keep the Suprême sauce lively.

Advance Preparation

• •The mushroom cooking liquor can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Reserve the cooked mushrooms for an omelette, soup, or another sauce.
• •The chicken purée can be prepared 1 day ahead. Press parchment directly onto its surface, chill it, then reheat it gently over warm water with a teaspoon or two of reserved stock.
• •The prepared Suprême sauce can be chilled for 1 day and reheated over low heat. Whisk in warm stock a tablespoon at a time if it has tightened.
• •The tenderloins may be trimmed and contised up to 4 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate them flat, then shape and pin the rings shortly before poaching.
• •The artichoke bottoms may be trimmed and indented earlier in the day, but warm them in butter and add the chicken purée only when the mignonnettes are ready to enter the oven.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 450g)