Crème de Volaille Princesse

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-quart heavy saucepan
• •2-quart saucepan for warming milk and blanching asparagus
• •Balloon whisk
• •Food processor
• •8 to 10-inch fine-mesh sieve
• •Flexible bowl scraper
• •2½-quart soup tureen or 8 warmed soup bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the pale garnish

   Bring a small pan of water to a gentle boil and season it with half the salt. Add the white asparagus tips and cook until a knife enters without resistance but the tips still hold their shape, about 3 to 6 minutes depending on thickness. Drain them carefully. Cut enough cooked chicken fillet into 16 very small, thin slices and keep both garnishes covered while you make the soup.

2. 2

   Build the thin Béchamel

   Warm the 5 cups of milk until hot. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat, add the flour, and stir for 2 minutes to make a roux blanc (white roux), cooking away the raw flour taste without allowing it to colour. Whisk in the hot milk gradually, beginning with small additions, then hold the sauce at a bare simmer for 10 to 12 minutes while stirring along the bottom. If lumps form, take the pan off the heat and whisk vigorously before continuing. Ça se rattrape, and the final sieve will catch any stubborn ones. The finished Béchamel should veil a spoon thinly and run from it without clinging. Measure exactly 4½ cups (1.06 L); reduce gently if there is too much, or restore the measure with hot milk if there is too little.

3. 3

   Make the chicken purée

   Put about 2¾ cups (650 ml / 380 g) of the remaining cooked chicken into a food processor with 2 tablespoons taken from the measured Béchamel. Process, scrape down the bowl, and process again until the chicken becomes a fine, even paste. Measure exactly 1½ cups (355 ml) of chicken purée, processing a little more chicken if needed. Do not loosen it with extra liquid; the white consommé comes later, and that sequence protects the book's proportion.

4. 4

   Marry and pass

   Stir the 1½ cups of chicken purée into the 4½ cups of thin Béchamel until no pale streaks remain. Set a sturdy fine-mesh sieve over a clean saucepan and press the mixture through in manageable batches with a flexible scraper, collecting every bit clinging beneath the sieve. A food processor replaces the old pounding, but it does not replace this passing. The sieve removes the last chicken fibres and gives the Crème de Volaille Princesse its characteristic silk.

   If the sieve clogs, scrape its underside into the clean pan and wash the mesh before continuing. Forcing an overfilled sieve only pushes coarse fibres into the soup.
5. 5

   Heat without boiling

   Whisk in the white chicken consommé, or the boiled milk, a little at a time. Set the pan over low heat and stir steadily until the soup is thoroughly hot and flows from the spoon in a smooth ribbon. Do not let it boil. If a bubble breaks the surface and the soup begins to look grainy, lift it from the heat immediately, whisk in 1 tablespoon of cold cream from the measured amount, and pass it once more through the clean sieve. Ça se rattrape. If the soup is too thick, loosen it with hot milk one spoonful at a time rather than cooking it harder.

6. 6

   Cream and serve

   Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the remaining cream. Season with the remaining salt and the white pepper, tasting before adding all the salt because the consommé may already be seasoned. Warm the chicken slices and asparagus tips for 30 seconds in a ladleful of soup, then divide them among warmed bowls or place them in a warmed soup tureen. Ladle in the Crème de Volaille Princesse and scatter the chervil pluches over the surface at the final moment. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •White chicken consommé gives the soup a clearer chicken flavor and a lighter finish. If none is ready, use the source's honest alternative: the same quantity of whole milk brought once to a boil. Ordinary dark stock muddies both the colour and the taste.
• •Poach the chicken breast gently and keep it pale. Four medium skinless breasts yield roughly the quantity needed; hold the liquid at the faintest tremble until the centres reach 74°C (165°F), then let the fillets cool briefly in their liquid. Browned roast chicken is splendid elsewhere, but its roasted flavour and colour change this soup.
• •The fine sieve is not fussy ceremony. It removes fibres a processor can only shorten, and that difference is visible on the spoon. Use a broad sieve and work in batches.
• •When fresh white asparagus is out of season, use good jarred white asparagus tips, drain them well, and warm them only at the finish. The classical pantry understood preservation perfectly well.
• •Serve modest portions in warmed bowls, with a restrained white Burgundy or dry Champagne. The soup is rich, but it should never sit heavily.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken may be poached a day ahead, cooled quickly, and refrigerated in a little of its cooking liquid. Slice the garnish and make the purée only when the chicken is cold.
• •The thin Béchamel and chicken purée may be prepared separately a day ahead. Cover their surfaces directly and refrigerate, then warm the Béchamel gently before combining and passing the soup.
• •The combined, sieved base may be held in the refrigerator for up to a day before the consommé is added. Finish with cream, chicken slices, asparagus, and chervil only when serving; that final sequence is part of the dish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)