Consommé Florentine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Cheesecloth
• •Food processor
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Rimmed tray
• •Two teaspoons
• •Wide 4-quart saucepan
• •Slotted spoon
• •3-quart soupière

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the cold raft

   Put the ground chicken, four egg whites, carrot, leek, celery, tomato, cold water, parsley stems, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a heavy 8-quart pot. Work them together with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed, then stir in the thoroughly cold chicken stock. Everything must begin cold because gradual heating lets the proteins gather impurities into a strong clarification raft; a warm start sets them too quickly and leaves haze behind.

2. 2

   Clarify the consommé

   Set the pot over medium-low heat and stir slowly across the bottom until the mixture approaches a simmer and the proteins begin rising into a thick raft, about 20 minutes. Stop stirring the moment the raft closes over the surface. Cut a 2-inch opening in its centre with the handle of the spoon, then hold the consommé at the barest tremble for 50 to 60 minutes, ladling a little liquid through the opening occasionally to keep the raft moist. Never let it roll at a boil. Ladle the clear liquid gently through the opening and strain it through a fine sieve lined with two layers of damp cheesecloth; do not pour the raft into the sieve or press it. You should have about 8 cups. If there is more, reduce it at a very gentle simmer, then season with salt. If the broth is only flecked, strain it again. If it turned milky because it boiled, ça se rattrape: cool it completely, whisk in the two reserved egg whites, heat slowly until a fresh raft forms, hold it gently for 20 minutes, and strain through clean damp cheesecloth.

   The raft looks untidy while it forms, then suddenly gathers into a firm cap. Once that cap appears, the spoon comes out. Stirring after that point breaks the filter you have just built.
3. 3

   Reduce the spinach

   Wilt the spinach in a covered pan with only the water clinging to its leaves. Drain it, cool it enough to handle, and squeeze with real conviction until no more water escapes. Purée it finely, then cook the purée in a dry skillet over low heat, stirring, until it forms a dense green paste and leaves no wet trail in the pan. Measure 1/4 cup and cool it completely. Wet spinach loosens the forcemeat and makes the green quenelles fray in the poaching water; reducing it is not decoration, it is structure.

4. 4

   Make the fine forcemeat

   Chill the food processor bowl and blade, then process the cold raw chicken breast with the salt and white pepper until smooth and tacky. Add the egg white and process again. With the machine running in short pulses, add the cold cream gradually, holding back the final 2 tablespoons, until the mixture is glossy, smooth, and soft enough to shape. Press it through a fine-mesh sieve with a flexible spatula, then set it over ice. If it becomes dull, oily, or grainy, it has grown too warm. Stop immediately, chill it for 10 minutes, then pulse in the reserved cream one teaspoon at a time until it comes back together. Keep the forcemeat below 40°F (4°C).

5. 5

   Test and divide

   Poach a teaspoon of forcemeat in barely simmering water until cooked through, then cut and taste it. It should be tender, juicy, and evenly fine. Correct the salt now. If it spreads instead of setting, chill the mixture for 20 minutes and test again; warmth is usually the culprit, and flour would only make the quenelles heavy. Weigh the finished forcemeat and divide it into four equal portions. Fold the chopped tongue into one portion, the chopped white chicken into another, and the cold reduced spinach into the remaining two portions combined. This is the ratio that earns the dish its name.

6. 6

   Shape the quenelles

   Butter a rimmed tray. Using two teaspoons dipped in cold water, shape the mixtures into small Mecca loaves, miniature peaked ovals of about 2 teaspoons each. Make exactly 12 tongue quenelles, 12 chicken quenelles, and 24 spinach quenelles, setting them in orderly rows on the tray so the count stays honest. Keep the tray cold as you work. If the first quarter produces fewer than 12, the quenelles are too large; pinch them down and reshape before poaching.

7. 7

   Poach at a tremble

   Bring the poaching water and salt to 180°F (82°C) in a wide saucepan. The surface should quiver without breaking into a boil. Slide in the quenelles in uncrowded batches, cooking the tongue first, then chicken, then spinach, and poach for 4 to 6 minutes, turning once, until firm, buoyant, and 165°F (74°C) at the centre. Lift them carefully with a slotted spoon and drain on a clean towel. If the first quenelle feathers at its edges, lower the heat and chill the remaining tray for 10 minutes before trying again; a boil batters them, while cold forcemeat holds its shape.

8. 8

   Brighten the peas

   Blanch the peas in a small saucepan of salted boiling water just until tender and brilliantly green, about 1 minute for frozen peas and slightly longer for fresh. Drain at once and cool briefly in cold water to stop the cooking. Warm a 3-quart soupière with hot water, then dry it thoroughly. Frozen peas picked at their peak are the honest choice outside their season; tired fresh peas bring nothing useful to this consommé.

9. 9

   Fill the tureen

   Bring the clarified consommé to one brief, clean boil and remove it from the heat at once. Arrange all 48 warm quenelles in the heated soupière with the peas, keeping the spinach quenelles visibly abundant, then pour the boiling consommé over them. Scatter the chervil pluches across the surface and carry the tureen directly to the table. Clear broth waits for no one. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Begin with stock that tastes unmistakably of chicken but carries little salt. Clarification concentrates both flavor and seasoning, so a salty stock becomes harsher as it clears. A plain, low-sodium purchased stock can serve, but avoid one dominated by roasted vegetables, garlic, or dried herbs.
• •Ask a butcher or good delicatessen for one thick slice of cooked beef tongue. A lightly cured tongue gives the quenelles their rosy flecks, but an aggressively smoked one will dominate the quiet broth.
• •Keep the chicken breast, cream, processor bowl, and blade very cold. Fine chicken forcemeat is an emulsion, and temperature matters more than speed. Cold ingredients produce a silky quenelle; warm ones separate and turn coarse.
• •The spinach quenelles must number twice the tongue or chicken ones. Do not scatter the mixtures by eye. Count them on the tray, twelve, twelve, twenty-four, because the proportion is part of the preparation, not a suggestion.
• •Serve Consommé Florentine as a first course in shallow heated bowls. Its pleasure lies in the contrast between clear, concentrated broth and soft little quenelles, so it needs neither bread in the bowl nor another garnish.

Advance Preparation

• •Clarify the consommé up to 3 days ahead. Cool it quickly in a shallow container, cover, and refrigerate. Lift away any remaining surface fat while cold, then reheat gently for service.
• •The spinach purée, chopped tongue, and chopped chicken can be prepared a day ahead and kept separately covered in the refrigerator.
• •The quenelles can be shaped and poached a day ahead. Chill them quickly, cover, and refrigerate separately from the consommé. Rewarm them for 2 to 3 minutes in a small quantity of hot consommé before transferring them to the soupière.
• •Blanch the peas earlier on the day of service and refrigerate them once dry. Add them to the warmed soupière only at the finish so their green color remains clear.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 295g)