French Food Friday - Chicken ballottines with sage & pancetta

 

Bonjour from a chilly SW France,

What is it about holidays and food that makes us want to recreate the whole experience when we return home. Sometimes this does not work  due to not having the same quality ingredients or after spending hours trying to create it, I cannot even think about eating it. It is as if I get bored half way through or having seen what goes into the recipe, I cannot bear the thought of eating it. Also having developed a food intolerance to a few food groups is not helping matters. Try living without eating cream in a country that puts cream in practically everything.

I have been on the lookout for a ballottine recipe to make at home as a result of having enjoyed a Chicken Ballotine whilst on vacation in the Loire Valley earlier in the year. I would happily return to the region just to eat in the Restaurant but as this is not possible, I am making do with this recipe from one of my favourite non-French chefs; the one and only Gordon Ramsey. Note I am not a huge fan of polenta so I replaced this with a potato puree.

Chicken ballottines with sage & pancetta

4 whole chicken legs

(drumsticks and thighs), with skin on

100g chestnut mushroom

finely chopped

olive oil

6 best-quality chipolata sausages

200g very thin straight rashers pancetta or 20 thin smoked streaky bacon rashers

8 fresh sage

leaves

a few knobs of unsalted butter

To serve

Gordon’s classic vinaigrette

roasted tomatoes

Method

1. Firstly neaten the ends of the drumsticks. Using a small sharp knife, make a cut all around each chicken leg, about 4cm up from the knuckle end. Holding the leg like a gun, squeeze it tight to pull the skin taut, then scrape down to the bottom of the bone to remove the tendons and clean the bone, turning the leg as you go (scissors are good for cutting the tendons). Now position your knife across the bottom of the exposed bone and bash the knife with a rolling pin or meat mallet – the bone will break smoothly.

2. Lay the chicken legs skin-side down, pull the flaps of skin back and cut the flesh with a very sharp small knife on either side of the thigh bone using a shaving action. Once the bone is exposed, prise it out, then twist and snap it with your fingers to free it from the drumstick. If it doesn’t snap clean you may have to cut it. You now have a part-boned chicken leg.

3. Lightly sauté the mushrooms in a little hot olive oil for about 5 minutes until lightly browned, season well and leave to cool. Open out the boned chicken legs and spoon in the mushrooms. Cut the end off each chipolata and squeeze the sausagemeat over the mushrooms, using the chipolata skin as a piping bag. Push sausagemeat with your fingers right to the top of the thigh, then close the flaps and pull the skin across to secure. Now roll the legs over to make the parcels as neat as possible, then hold the exposed bone and straighten out each leg.

4. Cut 4 sheets of foil (enough to wrap each chicken leg comfortably). Lay 6-7 rashers of pancetta down the centre of each sheet, overlapping slightly, then put the chicken legs crossways over the pancetta and top each leg with 2 sage leaves. Lift up the edge of the foil that is furthest away from you, bring it over the chicken and press down on the chicken, so that the pancetta comes away from the foil and sticks to the chicken. Repeat with the other side of the foil so the chicken legs are all wrapped in pancetta.

5. Roll each leg in the foil, tucking it in and pressing it tight to the chicken to form a neat cylinder. Lift the cylinder up by the bone at one end and roll the foil at both ends, twisting to make a cracker shape.

6. Preheat oven to fan 200C/conventional 220C/gas 7. Put the chicken parcels on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, turning them twice. Turning them like this ensures they will be evenly coloured. Turn the oven down to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4 and roast for a further 30 minutes, turning once. Remove and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Unwrap, tipping the juices on to a plate.

7.Heat 1 tbsp oil and a knob of butter in a non-stick sauté pan until hot and foaming. Put the chicken legs in the pan and brown over a high heat on all sides, basting frequently and turning with a pair of tongs. As they start to brown, add a few small knobs of butter one at a time to the fat in the pan (adding the butter a little at a time keeps it fresh and prevents scorching). Lift the chicken legs from the pan and roll them around in the juices on the plate so they pick up a nice glaze.

8. Cut the stuffed thigh meat of each chicken leg on the diagonal into 3 slices each. Don’t slice the meat too thin or it will get cold. Spoon the polenta on to the plates, stand the drumsticks in the middle and lay 3 slices of stuffed chicken in front. Drizzle with a little vinaigrette and serve immediately, with roasted tomatoes on the side.

RECIPE TIPS

MAKING THE CHICKEN LOOK NEAT

Cleaning and cutting the ends off the drumsticks not only gives a professional look, it also gets rid of the sinewy tendons so the meat shrinks down during roasting and more of the bone is exposed. The bone acts as a handle, both when you stuff and wrap the legs, and when you eat them.

GORDON’S CLASSIC VINAIGRETTE

Whisk together 125ml extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil, 2 tbsp sherry vinegar and 1 tbsp lemon juice, adding a quarter to a half tsp fine sea salt and a little freshly ground black pepper. (If you like, you can shake all the ingredients in a screw-topped jar.)

ROASTED TOMATOES

Halve 8 plum tomatoes lengthways and cut out the green stalk ends in a neat V shape. Arrange the tomatoes cut-side up in a baking dish, drizzle with 4-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, scatter over 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, and the leaves from 1 sprig of fresh thyme. Season, then roast in the oven (fan 130C/conventional 150C/gas 2) for 30-40 minutes.

WRAPPING THE PARCELS TIGHTLY

It's important to wrap the foil around the chicken in a tight, perfect cylinder. This keeps in all the flavours and stops the parcel from bursting open, so the chicken turns out a good shape for slicing. The 10-minute resting before unwrapping is important too, as it lets the juices settle back into the fibres of the meat and this makes it moister and easier to slice neatly.

Bon vendredi a tous ♥

Leeann x