Pollastre amb Escamarlans

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 32 to 34cm cassola, enamelled cast-iron casserole, or heavy sauté pan with lid
• •Large mortar and pestle
• •Kitchen tongs
• •Fine grater
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the cassola

   Pat the chicken and langoustines very dry. Trim only the longest feelers from the langoustines, leaving their heads and shells intact. Season the chicken with 8g salt and all the black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a wide 32 to 34cm cassola or heavy casserole over medium heat. Fry the bread for 60 to 90 seconds per side, until deep gold but not burnt, then lift it out and reserve it for the picada.

   Water prevents browning and makes the oil spit. Dry the chicken and shellfish properly before either reaches the cassola.
2. 2

   Colour the langoustines

   Season the langoustines with 2g salt. Raise the heat to medium-high and sear them in two batches for about 45 seconds per side. Their shells should turn bright orange and scent the oil, but the tails must remain undercooked. Transfer them to a tray immediately, keeping every drop of their juices.

3. 3

   Brown the chicken

   Keep the cassola over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken in two or three uncrowded batches, skin side down first, for 5 to 6 minutes, then for 2 to 3 minutes on the other side. Look for a deep, even gold rather than scorched patches. Set the pieces aside. Leave about 45ml of the chicken-scented oil in the cassola and reserve any excess.

   Don't crowd the cassola. Crowded chicken releases water and stews pale, and no sauce can put the lost browning back.
4. 4

   Build the dark sofregit

   Lower the heat to medium-low. Add the onions with 2g salt and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring often and scraping up the browned deposits, until dark gold, soft, and jammy. Add the 2 chopped garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the grated tomato and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. The sofregit is ready when it has reduced to a thick rust-coloured paste and the oil begins to show around its edges. Pésalo, no lo adivines, and give it the full time.

5. 5

   Deglaze and braise

   Pour in the vi ranci and scrape the base of the cassola. Let it bubble for 3 to 4 minutes, until reduced by roughly half and no sharp smell of alcohol remains. Return the chicken skin side up, add the bay leaf, and pour in the hot stock. The liquid should reach about halfway up the pieces, not cover them. Bring it to a bare simmer, cover with the lid slightly ajar, and cook gently for 20 minutes. Uncover and continue for 8 to 10 minutes.

6. 6

   Pound the picada

   While the chicken braises, pound the 2 remaining garlic cloves with 1g salt in a mortar until smooth. Add the almonds and hazelnuts and pound them finely. Work in the fried bread, parsley, and dark chocolate, if using, until you have a thick, slightly coarse paste. Ladle in about 100ml of the cooking liquid and stir until loose enough to pour.

   A few small pieces of nut are welcome, but there should be no large chunks. The picada must disappear into the sauce and bind it, not sit in it like rubble.
7. 7

   Bind the sauce

   Pour the picada around the chicken and move the cassola by its handles to distribute it. Avoid vigorous stirring, which can pull the skin from the chicken. Simmer uncovered for 7 to 8 minutes, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon but still runs freely. Check the chicken: breast meat must reach 74°C at its thickest part, while thighs are best around 78 to 82°C. If a breast piece finishes before the legs, lift it out and return it at the end.

8. 8

   Return the langoustines

   Nestle the langoustines and their collected juices among the chicken. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, turning them once in the sauce. Their tails should feel just firm and reach 63°C, not curl into tight, dry hooks. Large head-on prawns need about one minute less. Taste the sauce and use the final 1g salt only if it needs it.

9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Remove the bay leaf and take the cassola off the heat. Let it rest for 5 minutes so the picada settles into the cooking liquor. Carry the whole cassola to the table, with chicken and langoustines visible across the surface, and serve with pa de pagès or another sturdy country bread for the sauce. Tal com es fa allí, exactly as it's done there.

Chef Tips

• •Buy raw whole langoustines, also sold as Norway lobster or Dublin Bay prawn, with firm shells and a clean sea smell. The heads matter because they season the oil. Pre-cooked tails give you neither that flavour nor a tender finish.
• •Good frozen langoustines are better than tired fresh ones. Thaw them overnight in the refrigerator on a tray, drain them, and dry them well. Don't thaw them in warm water; their delicate flesh turns soft before cooking begins.
• •If langoustines aren't available, use the largest raw head-on prawns you can find. The sauce becomes a little bolder and less delicately sweet. Cook them for only 2 to 3 minutes when they return to the cassola.
• •For the sofregit, use good canned whole plum tomatoes, drained and crushed, when fresh tomatoes are pale and watery. This is a cooked sauce, so a sound conserva is the sensible Catalan kitchen answer outside tomato season.
• •The dark chocolate belongs to many household versions but not every one. Eight grams won't make the sauce sweet. It softens the tomato's edge and deepens the picada. Leave it out if you prefer the brighter almond-and-shellfish version.
• •Use a light, unsalted fish or shellfish stock. A strong commercial stock can bully both the chicken and langoustines; plain water is better than a stock that tastes chiefly of powder.
• •Vi ranci gives the sauce its Catalan oxidative, nutty note. Dry oloroso sherry is the closest easy substitute, though it tastes a little more assertive. Don't use sweet cream sherry.
• •Serve a dry Garnatxa Blanca from Empordà or Terra Alta. It has enough body for the chicken and enough freshness for the langoustines without turning the meal heavy.
• •The chicken and sauce keep well, but the langoustines are best on the day. Chill leftovers within 2 hours and eat them within 2 days. Remove the langoustines before reheating, bring the chicken and sauce gently to a simmer, then return the shellfish only long enough to warm through.

Advance Preparation

• •Ask the butcher to joint the chicken into 10 bone-in pieces. Season and refrigerate it, covered, for up to 12 hours, then dry the skin again before browning.
• •The picada ingredients can be toasted and measured one day ahead, but pound them shortly before use so the nuts and parsley keep their fragrance.
• •For a dinner party, cook through the first 20 minutes of the chicken braise up to one day ahead, without adding the picada or langoustines. Cool promptly and refrigerate within 2 hours. Reheat at a gentle simmer, finish cooking the chicken, then add the picada and shellfish as written.
• •Frozen langoustines should thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Keep them covered on a rack or in a colander set over a tray so they don't sit in their liquid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)