Mousselines de Volaille à la Florentine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor with metal blade
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Wide 10-inch (25 cm) skillet with lid
• •2-quart (2 L) saucepan for the sauce
• •Wide 3-quart (3 L) saucepan for poaching
• •Two tablespoons for shaping
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Rimmed baking sheet

Instructions

1. 1

   Chill the equipment

   Put the food processor bowl, blade, a mixing bowl, and the two spoons you will use for shaping into the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Keep the diced chicken, egg white, and mousseline cream cold beside them. The forcemeat is an emulsion, and warmth loosens the bond between its lean meat and cream before the poaching water can set it.

2. 2

   Dry the spinach

   Place the spinach in a wide covered skillet over medium heat with only the water clinging to its leaves. Turn it until completely wilted, 2 to 3 minutes, then spread it on a plate until cool enough to handle. Gather it in a clean towel and squeeze with both hands until no more liquid runs out. Shred it finely across the leaves. Melt the 2 tablespoons butter in the dry skillet, add the spinach with ¼ teaspoon salt, a pinch each of white pepper and nutmeg, and stew it over medium-low heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until it looks glossy but leaves no wet trail in the pan. If moisture still gathers when you press it with a spoon, keep cooking. Pastry waits for dry spinach.

3. 3

   Build the sauce

   Bring the chicken stock to a lively simmer in a small saucepan and reduce it to ¾ cup (180 ml), concentrating the foundation the old stockpot supplied automatically. Pour it into a jug. Melt the butter for the roux in the same pan, stir in the flour, and cook gently for 90 seconds without letting it brown. Whisk in the reduced stock a little at a time, then simmer for 5 minutes. Add the sauce cream and simmer until the sauce is nappant, meaning it coats the back of a spoon in an even ivory film. If it is thin, reduce it longer; if it tightens too far, loosen it with a spoonful of stock or water. If it has lumps, strain it. Ça se rattrape. Cover and hold it over the gentlest heat.

4. 4

   Make the mousseline

   Put the cold chicken in the chilled processor with ¾ teaspoon salt, half the remaining white pepper, and a small pinch of nutmeg. Process in short bursts until the meat becomes smooth and tacky, scraping down the bowl once. Add the cold egg white and process only until absorbed. With the machine pulsing, add the ¾ cup cold cream in four additions, stopping as soon as each disappears. The mixture should be pale, glossy, and thick enough to hold a soft mound. If it turns grainy or oily, stop immediately, set the bowl over ice, and fold in the optional cold cream one tablespoon at a time until it comes together. Press the finished forcemeat through a fine sieve into the chilled bowl, cover, and return it to the refrigerator.

5. 5

   Test and poach

   Heat the poaching water in a wide saucepan to 175 to 180°F (79 to 82°C), where the surface barely trembles. Poach a teaspoon of forcemeat for 2 minutes and taste it. Correct the remaining salt and white pepper now. If the sample feathers apart, the mixture is too warm, so chill it for 15 minutes before trying again; do not stiffen it with flour or crumbs. Using two wet tablespoons, shape 12 smooth, compact ovals and lower them into the water in two batches. Poach without boiling, turning once, for 7 to 9 minutes, until springy and 165°F (74°C) at the centre. Lift them onto a towel and blot every surface dry.

6. 6

   Recrisp the barquettes

   Arrange the Barquettes (No. 314) on a rimmed baking sheet and warm them in a 325°F (165°C) oven for 4 minutes. They should smell buttery and feel crisp at the rim, but must not darken much further. Remove them, then change the oven to its broiler setting and place a rack about 6 inches (15 cm) below the heat.

7. 7

   Fill the boats

   Warm the spinach and sauce gently if either has cooled. Take the sauce off the heat and whisk in the diced cold butter until it gleams. Divide the spinach among the Barquettes (No. 314), using about 2 teaspoons in each and pressing it into a thin, dry bed without crushing the pastry. Set one well-drained mousseline on each boat. Spoon over just enough sauce to cloak the chicken, keeping it away from the pastry rim. If the sauce runs into the shell instead of clinging, return it to the saucepan and reduce it briefly before coating the rest.

8. 8

   Glaze and serve

   Slide the sheet beneath the broiler for 45 to 75 seconds, watching without interruption, until the sauce glistens, swells slightly, and takes a few pale golden freckles. This is the home salamander, quick and close. The pastry edges must remain butter-gold, not scorched. Transfer the barquettes to a warm platter and serve at once, while the shells are crisp and the mousselines tender. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Technique first. Ordinary fresh chicken breast works beautifully if it is trimmed cleanly and kept cold; an expensive bird allowed to warm in the processor still makes a broken forcemeat.
• •Fresh spinach gives the clearest texture, but frozen whole-leaf spinach is an honest pantry substitute. Thaw 10 ounces (285 g), squeeze it twice, shred it, and stew it in butter until the skillet is dry.
• •The Barquettes (No. 314) must be completely baked before filling. Their brief return to the oven restores crispness, but it cannot repair pastry left beneath watery spinach.
• •Serve with a dry, mineral white wine such as Chablis or a restrained white Mâcon. The wine should clear the cream from the palate, not compete with the chicken's delicacy.
• •Assemble only when the guests are ready. The mousselines, spinach, sauce, and shells can wait separately; once joined, the pastry begins absorbing moisture.

Advance Preparation

• •The Barquettes (No. 314) can be baked one day ahead, cooled completely, and kept airtight at room temperature. Recrisp them immediately before filling.
• •The spinach can be wilted, squeezed, shredded, and stewed in butter one day ahead. Refrigerate it covered, then warm it in a dry skillet so any collected moisture evaporates.
• •The mousselines can be poached up to one day ahead. Cool them promptly, refrigerate them covered, and warm them for 6 to 8 minutes in a covered 300°F (150°C) oven before assembly.
• •The sauce can be prepared through the cream reduction several hours ahead. Reheat it gently and whisk in the final cold butter only when the barquettes are ready to fill.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)