Consommé D’Orléans

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor with chilled bowl and blade
• •Sturdy fine-mesh sieve
• •Fine reusable soup cloth or unscented flour-sack towel
• •Piping bag with 1/2-inch (12 mm) open-star tip
• •Two buttered trays
• •Two wide sauté pans for the last-minute poach
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Soup tureen

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the spinach

   Drop the spinach into boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds, just until it collapses and turns a clear deep green. Drain immediately, cool under cold running water, and squeeze it with both hands until no more water escapes. Chop it to a smooth purée, then press it through a fine sieve. Wet spinach loosens the green forcemeat and dulls its colour, so squeeze without mercy.

2. 2

   Make the farce

   Chill the food-processor bowl and blade before beginning. Process the cold chicken with the salt until it becomes smooth, sticky, and begins to gather around the blade. Add the cool butter, egg white, white pepper, and nutmeg, then process again until fully incorporated. With the motor running, add the 1/2 cup of cold cream in three additions, stopping as soon as the farce de volaille, the ordinary chicken forcemeat, becomes smooth and softly glossy. If the bowl loses its chill, stop and refrigerate everything for 15 minutes. Warm forcemeat separates; patience, not speed.

   Press the finished farce through a sturdy fine-mesh sieve. The food processor replaces the old mortar, but this single sieve pass stays because the quenelles should feel smooth rather than fibrous.
3. 3

   Test and correct

   Hold a small pan of water between 175 and 180°F (80 and 82°C), with only an occasional tremor at the surface. Shape 1 1/2 teaspoons of plain farce into an oval and poach it for about 5 minutes, until firm and cooked through to 165°F (74°C). Taste it. If it feathers at the edges, lower the water temperature first; if a second test still feathers, chill the farce and beat in the reserved egg white 1 teaspoon at a time. If it is firm and bouncy, beat in additional cold cream 1 tablespoon at a time. If the mixture looks greasy, chill it until the butter firms, then pulse briefly with a spoonful of cold cream. Ça se rattrape.

4. 4

   Make three colours

   Weigh the corrected farce and divide it equally among three chilled bowls. Leave the first portion plain. Fold the tomato purée thoroughly into the second, keeping the colour even and free of red streaks. Fold the spinach purée into the third. Test-poach a marble-sized piece of each coloured farce; tomato and spinach both introduce moisture, so if either feathers, mix in a little beaten egg white and test again. Cover and chill all three portions for 30 minutes.

5. 5

   Groove the quenelles

   Butter two trays lightly. Fit a piping bag with a 1/2-inch (12 mm) open-star tip and pipe twenty ridged, 1 1/2-inch (4 cm) lengths of the plain farce. Cut each length cleanly and taper both ends with damp fingers so it resembles a small grooved olive. Repeat with the tomato and spinach farces, washing the bag and tip well between colours. You should have sixty quenelles, twenty of each colour. If you have no star tip, shape them between two damp teaspoons and draw three shallow lengthwise grooves with a damp fork. Cover and refrigerate.

6. 6

   Poach the tapioca

   Cook the dry tapioca in plenty of gently simmering water until every pearl is translucent and very soft, following the timing required by its size. Drain without rinsing, then measure exactly 6 tablespoons of cooked tapioca. Bring the chicken consommé just below a simmer, add the measured tapioca, and hold it there for 10 minutes, stirring gently once or twice. The original proportion is three tablespoons of cooked tapioca for every quart of consommé, and that liaison must remain light.

7. 7

   Strain to clarity

   Dampen a clean, unscented flour-sack cloth or fine reusable soup cloth and use it to line a fine sieve over a clean saucepan. Pass the tapioca-bound consommé through by gravity, without squeezing or scraping the cloth. It should emerge clear, pale gold, and only slightly more silken than before. If fine sediment clouds it, let it settle for 5 minutes and pass it through a freshly dampened cloth once more. If the tapioca has made it too thick, loosen it spoonful by spoonful with hot consommé, or hot water if none remains, until it pours freely.

8. 8

   Poach before serving

   Ten minutes before serving, heat two wide pans of water to 180°F (82°C). Slide the chilled quenelles gently from their trays into the water, dividing them between the pans so they do not touch. Poach at the barest tremble for 5 to 6 minutes, turning once, until they feel lightly springy and reach 165°F (74°C) at the centre. Never let the water boil. If their surfaces begin to crack, lower the heat immediately; the inside will finish cooking in the retained heat. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on a clean towel.

9. 9

   Fill the tureen

   Warm the soup tureen and bowls with hot water, then dry them. Arrange all sixty quenelles in the tureen, distributing the three colours evenly, and pour the hot consommé gently around them rather than directly onto their grooves. Scatter over the chervil pluches. Ladle seven or eight mixed quenelles into each bowl with enough consommé to surround them generously. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The consommé is the foundation, not background. It must be clear, well flavoured, and completely defatted while cold. An ordinary carton of cloudy stock cannot carry this garnish; prepare or obtain a true finished chicken consommé and make it ahead.
• •Keep the chicken, processor bowl, butter, egg white, and cream cold. Temperature protects the forcemeat emulsion, and the test poach tells you more than any clock or written ratio can.
• •Double-concentrated canned tomato purée gives the red quenelles colour without excess water. Thawed frozen leaf spinach may replace fresh spinach if it is squeezed thoroughly dry; the classical pantry has always understood preserved vegetables.
• •The ridges are not fussy decoration. They catch the golden consommé and distinguish these quenelles from plain spoon-shaped ones, so use the star tip or score them carefully with a fork.
• •Serve this as a first course with a restrained dry Loire white. The soup is delicate, and a heavily oaked wine will walk straight across it in muddy boots.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the finished chicken consommé up to 3 days ahead, chill it promptly, and remove every trace of solidified fat before reheating. It may also be frozen well ahead.
• •The three coloured forcemeats can be shaped on buttered trays, covered closely, and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Keep them below 40°F (4°C) and poach them only shortly before service.
• •The tapioca-bound consommé can be strained several hours ahead. Reheat it gently without boiling; if it has tightened while standing, loosen it with a little hot consommé or water and check the seasoning again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 320g)