Consommé Bourdaloue

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Four 8-ounce straight-sided dariole moulds or oven-safe ramekins
• •Deep roasting pan for the bain-marie
• •Small food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •½-inch leaf and star canapé cutters
• •Thin-bladed paring knife
• •Soup tureen

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the molds

   Heat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Brush four 8-ounce straight-sided ramekins or metal dariole moulds lightly with 1 teaspoon of the butter. Set them on a folded kitchen towel inside a deep roasting pan; the towel keeps the moulds steady and softens the heat beneath them. Bring a kettle of water just to the boil for the bain-marie.

2. 2

   Make haricot purée

   Process the haricot beans with the tomato paste until as smooth as the machine will take them, then press the mixture through a fine sieve. The tomato should warm the color and sharpen the bean, not turn the royale red. Scrape the purée into its own bowl and keep it cool.

3. 3

   Build chicken royale

   Melt 1 teaspoon of the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in the flour and cook this pale roux for 1 minute without letting it color, then whisk in 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of the consommé. Simmer gently for about 2 minutes, until the velouté, the pale stock-thickened sauce, lightly coats a spoon. Cool it, process it with the chicken to a smooth purée, and press the mixture through the clean sieve.

4. 4

   Make green purée

   Drop the asparagus tips into boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Add the spinach for the final 20 seconds, then drain and cool both immediately in ice water. Squeeze them thoroughly dry, process to a vivid green purée, and pass it through the sieve. Water left in the leaves weakens the custard, so squeeze with conviction.

5. 5

   Cook Crécy purée

   Melt the remaining teaspoon of butter over low heat and soften the onion without coloring it. Add the carrots and rice, turn them through the butter, then add 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of consommé. Cover and simmer gently until the carrots and rice collapse under a spoon, about 15 minutes. Uncover and cook away any loose liquid, then process and sieve this Purée Crécy. Cool it completely.

6. 6

   Mix the liaison

   Whisk the eggs, yolk, cream, salt, and white pepper only until combined, keeping the whisk below the surface so you don't beat in bubbles. Pass this liaison through a clean fine sieve and divide it equally among four bowls, about a scant ⅓ cup (85 ml) per bowl. Fold one portion into each purée, then strain each mixture once more into its prepared mould. Rap the moulds lightly on a folded towel to release hidden air.

7. 7

   Poach the royales

   Place the roasting pan in the oven and pour the hot water around the moulds until it reaches halfway up their sides. Cover the pan loosely with foil. Poach the royales in this bain-marie, the hot-water bath, for 25 to 35 minutes, until their centers barely quiver and register about 170°F (77°C). The water must never boil around them, because hard heat riddles a royale with bubbles. If the bath starts bubbling, add a cup of cold water along the edge, lower the oven to 275°F (135°C), and continue gently.

8. 8

   Chill and cut

   Lift the moulds from the bath, cool them for 20 minutes, then cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Run a thin knife around each cold royale and turn it onto a chilled board. Slice them about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick, then cut the haricot royale into dice, the chicken into lozenges or diamonds, the asparagus into little leaves, and the Crécy into stars. Keep the knife and cutters cold and wipe them between cuts. If a royale smears, stop and chill it for another 20 minutes; if one cracks, take the required shapes from its intact center. Ça se rattrape.

9. 9

   Heat the consommé

   Pour the remaining consommé, about 8 cups (1.9 L), into a spotless saucepan and warm it gently without whisking or stirring up any sediment. Taste for seasoning, then bring it to a boil only when the tureen is ready. If flecks or a trace of fat disturb the surface, pass the consommé through damp muslin or a damp coffee filter into a clean pan and return it to the boil. Clarity is the foundation here, and it can still be rescued.

10. 10

    Assemble at table

    Warm a soup tureen with hot water, empty it, and dry it well. Arrange all four kinds of royale in the tureen, distributing their colors and shapes evenly. Pour the boiling consommé slowly down the side so its force doesn't break the garnish. The broth warms the royales at service; never simmer them in it. Ladle gently into warmed soup plates and serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •This dish begins with finished chicken consommé, just as the source entry does. Make and clarify it in advance, or obtain a properly clarified, lightly seasoned consommé. An ordinary cloudy stock may taste splendid, but it hides the four royales and changes the dish.
• •Canned white haricots are an honest choice because they are being puréed. Rinse away their packing liquid and dry them thoroughly; excess moisture makes a soft custard that tears beneath the cutter.
• •Outside asparagus season, use frozen asparagus tips picked while green and tender. Thaw them, blanch them briefly with the spinach, and squeeze them very dry. The spinach restores depth of color without changing the asparagus character.
• •Small canapé cutters, about ½ inch (1.25 cm), make clean leaves and stars. Dip them in cold water and wipe after every few cuts. Serve the consommé with a dry Champagne or a taut white Burgundy, and let the patterned garnish provide all the decoration.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare and clarify the chicken consommé up to two days ahead. Chill it promptly, lift away every trace of set fat, and reheat it only when the royales and tureen are ready.
• •The four royales can be poached one day ahead and kept covered in their moulds. Unmould and cut them up to four hours before service, then refrigerate the shapes in a single layer on a covered chilled tray.
• •Keep the cut royales and consommé separate until the final minute. Storing the shapes in broth softens their edges and can cloud the consommé.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)