Crème Reine-Margot

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-quart heavy saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Flexible bowl scraper
• •Balloon whisk
• •Wide saucepan for poaching
• •Piping bag with ½-inch open-star tip
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Ladle

Instructions

1. 1

   Unite the foundations

   Let the chicken purée lose its hard refrigerator chill for 10 minutes, then put it in a mixing bowl. Beat in one ladleful of the thin, roux-built Béchamel until no white streaks remain. Add the rest in three portions, working each one fully into the chicken before the next. Adding everything at once leaves little knots of chicken that even cream cannot disguise.

2. 2

   Pass through the sieve

   Set a fine-mesh sieve over a clean 4-quart saucepan. Press the chicken and Béchamel mixture through in small batches with a flexible scraper, then scrape the smooth purée clinging to the underside into the pan. Do not skip this because the mixture already looks smooth. A blender can make fibers smaller, but the sieve removes them, and that distinction is the texture of the finished soup.

   Work with firm, sweeping strokes and scrape the underside often. A fine-mesh sieve is the honest home equivalent of the classical tammy.
3. 3

   Whisk in consommé

   Set the saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the warm white chicken consommé one ladleful at a time at first, loosening the thick purée without creating lumps, then add the remainder in two steady additions. Stir slowly until the soup is completely uniform and warm. It should lightly veil a spoon but remain fluid enough to pour cleanly; this is a crème, not a sauce.

4. 4

   Mix pistachio forcemeat

   Fold the pistachio purée into the very cold chicken forcemeat until the color is even, without beating in air. The source is exact here: 1 ounce pistachio purée for every 3 ounces forcemeat, and that proportion stays. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a ½-inch open-star tip and chill it for 10 minutes so the grooves hold during poaching.

5. 5

   Poach tiny quenelles

   Bring the water to the barest tremble in a wide pan, then lower the heat. Pipe one short, ¾-inch length of forcemeat over the water and cut it free with a wet paring knife. Poach this tester for 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until it feels lightly springy and reaches 165°F (74°C) at the center. If its edges feather, the water is too active or the forcemeat has grown warm; lift the pan from the heat, chill the bag for another 10 minutes, and test again. Once it holds neatly, poach about 24 quenelles in small batches and drain them gently.

6. 6

   Finish below the boil

   Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cold cream, then stir the well-strained almond milk prepared within Velouté Dame-Blanche (No. 678) into the soup. Heat gently, stirring across the pan floor, until the surface gleams and pinprick bubbles threaten at the rim. Do not allow it to boil. If it does boil and turns grainy, take it off the heat immediately, whisk in the reserved cold cream, blend briefly with the head kept below the surface, and pass the soup through the clean sieve. Ça se rattrape. Off the heat, whisk in the remaining cream and taste before adding any salt.

   The soup is ready when it pours in an unbroken ivory ribbon. Vigorous bubbling dulls the almond and can roughen the carefully sieved texture.
7. 7

   Garnish and serve

   Return the drained quenelles to the soup for 30 seconds over the lowest heat, only long enough to warm them. Arrange three tiny grooved quenelles in each warm soup plate and ladle the Crème Reine-Margot around them, keeping their pale pistachio color visible at the surface. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use chicken breast for the purée and cook it gently, without browning. Roasted or dark meat turns the soup beige and gives it a stronger flavor than the almond and cream can balance.
• •Thin Béchamel should pour in a broad ribbon while still carrying the quiet body of its butter-and-flour roux. A stiff Béchamel makes paste; a watery one cannot hold the chicken purée in suspension.
• •Choose unsweetened pistachio purée containing pistachios and little else. Sweetened baking paste has no place here, and bright artificial green is not an improvement on the nut's honest pale color.
• •The consommé carries most of the seasoning, so taste only after the cream goes in. A salty stock becomes harsher as the soup warms, while cream softens salt just enough to tempt an impatient hand.
• •For a dinner party, pour a very dry Champagne or a restrained white Burgundy. The wine should clear the cream from the palate, not compete with the almond.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken purée, thin Béchamel, white consommé, and almond milk component may be prepared a day ahead and chilled separately. Bring the Béchamel and consommé toward room temperature before combining so the base blends without tightening.
• •The pistachio forcemeat may be mixed and loaded into its piping bag up to 4 hours ahead. Keep it thoroughly cold so the grooves remain distinct when poached.
• •The quenelles may be poached a day ahead, cooled promptly, and chilled in a covered container with a few spoonfuls of the measured consommé to prevent drying. Warm them in the finished soup without boiling.
• •The sieved chicken, Béchamel, and consommé base may be assembled a day ahead. Add the almond milk and cream only during the final gentle reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)