Making Elegant Poached Chicken

M-J’s Sauce Velouté Recipe for Elegant Chicken

Sauce Velouté for an Elegant Dinner Dish Made with Poached Chicken Breasts

M-J’s Sauce Velouté Recipe

Save the broth from poaching chicken breasts as shown in a previous post, and make elegant sauce velouté, a classic feature of French cuisine. For this recipe, I would prefer the chicken poaching liquid to contain just salt, white wine, water, and a spoonful of lemon juice.

Make a roux with about two tablespoons each of butter and flour. Stir it until light tan and bubbly.
Add about two cups of chicken broth or poaching liquid, stirring it in quickly.

Cook the ingredients until smooth.
When the sauce is very thick, slowly add a half-cup of cream and incorporate it well, cooking on low heat for another minute. I like to use bamboo tools, because they do not scratch my cookware.

Elegant Sauce Velouté, a French Classic with Many Applications

If you don’t plan to use it right away, it is perfectly acceptable to store your sauce velouté in a jar, and refrigerate or freeze until needed. Thaw the sauce slowly in a covered pan or pot, and add some white wine or champagne to taste. Cream may also be stirred-in until the sauce is at the consistency that you prefer. Dress your chicken in this elegant French sauce velouté. It is very good to have at hand for impromptu gatherings, together with some poached and sliced chicken breasts. These two ingredients guarantee you a quickly-prepared, elegant dinner party offering.
©M-J de Mesterton 2010

Announcing M-J de Mesterton’s Elegant Cook

http://www.elegantcook.net

M-J’s Green Chile Chicken Noodle Soup

M-J’s Original Recipe

© M-J de Mesterton 2010

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Buttermilk Biscuits, a Surprisingly Good Accompaniment to Dinner

M-J’s Buttermilk Biscuits

3 cups of white or unbleached white flour

3 teaspoons of baking powder

One teaspoon of salt (I use Himalayan salt)

1 and 1/4 cups of buttermilk

One stick of butter (1/2 cup)

1/2 cup of lard (manteca)

1/2 cup of flour for working dough on the counter

¼ cup of melted butter and lard for brushing layers—composed of equal parts of each

Arrange bits of butter and lard over the 3 cups of flour in a large bowl. Toss butter and lard with flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the fats into the dry ingredients, and add a tablespoon of cold water, mixing until the dough looks like a bunch of small peas. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Put into refrigerator for about ten minutes. Remove to counter again and incorporate the buttermilk, mixing gently. 2. Turn dough out onto your counter, which has been dusted with flour. Gently knead the biscuit dough 3 or 4 times, adding a bit of extra flour if necessary. With floured hands, form dough into a rectangular shape, about ½ inch thick. Brush dough with a bit of your melted fat mixture, and dust it with flour. Fold dough over onto itself. Roll it out into a new rectangle, brush again with melted fat and dust with flour. Repeat the last two steps once more. Cut 3/4 inch high dough into biscuits with a small glass or my favorite, an empty, clean  tomato paste can. If you are using the biscuits for canapes, roll the dough 1/2 inch thick. Brush tops with melted fat. These layered biscuits are easy to crack open and fill with marmalade or, if one uses them as canapes, various meats. To make a croissant biscuit, cut the dough, which has been flattened to 1/8 inch, four inches wide and brush with melted fat as above. Roll and pinch ends together.

Bake biscuits in a pre-heated 450° oven until they are lightly browned.

Serve with chicken dishes of all kinds; these biscuits also complement beef and pork. If you have company for breakfast, making these fresh biscuits is sure to be appreciated, especially if served with a selection of jams, jellies and marmalade.

M-J's Buttermilk Biscuits

M-J de Mesterton, 2009

M-J's Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Patties

Recipe and Photo Copyright M-J de Mesterton 2009

Poulet Velouté en Croute

Recipe Using Pepperidge Farm Puff-Pastry Shells
Poulet Velouté en Croute

A deep pan with a lid is ideal for this recipe. You will also need a baking sheet.

Three boxes of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells, twelve shells total (variation: use M-J’s biscuit dough and line a baking dish with it, top and bottom, filled with the prepared chicken velouté)
Six boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Two cups of white wine (leftover champagne is also suitable)
One cup of water
Four tablespoons of butter
One third cup of white flour
One teaspoon of herbes de Provence
Salt and white pepper to taste
One half cup of whipping cream
Two eggs beaten with two tablespoons of water, for brushing the pastry shells

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan. Add one cup of white wine or champagne and one cup of water, together with salt and white pepper. Poach chicken breasts in white wine and water mixture until they are fully cooked; about forty-five minutes. Remove chicken breasts from pan and let them cool to room temperature.

Sauce Velouté
In the same pan, melt three tablespoons of butter. With a wire whisk, stir in 1/3 cup of white flour. Let this brown and then add one cup of white wine, whisking continually to prevent lumps. Incorporate the cream, and stop cooking after the sauce has thickened. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

Prepare the Puff Pastry Shells

Place 12 Pepperidge Farm puff pastry shells on baking sheets, and let thaw for twenty minutes.
Pre-heat your oven to 400* Fahrenheit.
Brush puff pastry shells with egg and water mixture.
Bake for twenty minutes or until golden brown.

Slice the cooled chicken breasts into thin scallops, and return the chicken to the pan where it will be mixed with the sauce velouté, and reheated briefly on the stove.

Remove Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells from oven. Lift top of each puff pastry shell and fill with poulet velouté. Replace top. Bake the filled puff pastry shells in a 400* oven for ten minutes.

Serve with petit pois and vinaigrette salad. Poulet Velouté en Croute made with Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells is an ideal dish for brunch, luncheon or dinner. This recipe provides two servings each for six people.

Recipe Copyright M-J de Mesterton December, 2008

M-J’s Pink Lemonade Chicken

M-J’s Pink Lemonade Chicken

I invented this dish for a dinner party guest, a French teacher who was pregnant. She loved it. Other guests did as well, so I have made my Pink Lemonade Chicken for many buffet dinners. Now, I am inspired by my dear nieces and nephews who are expecting babies soon, so I am publishing this recipe for the first time. The ingredients are simple and few, and you may adjust the amounts according to taste.

Ingredients: 

Four-to-six pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
One 16-ounce can of frozen pink lemonade
One tablespoon of cornstarch
Salt or celery salt to-taste
Water, two or three cups

Poach chicken breasts in a mixture composed of  2/3 of a 16-ounce frozen pink lemonade juice and two or three cups of water.
When it is thawed, the pink lemonade turns to thick syrup. One large can will be sufficient for four-to-six pounds of chicken. Reserve a third of the can for a final sauce.

Cover the boneless, skinless chicken breasts and simmer slowly in the pink lemonade for an hour or more. You may add salt or celery salt, but remember, this dish is created for those with delicate stomachs, so please don’t add garlic or onion flavorings. The liquid will reduce and the whole pieces of chicken should become lightly browned. Remove from heat and place on top of two sheets of waxed paper to protect your cutting board.  When the chicken breasts are cool, slice them into medallions with a very sharp knife. The liquid left-over in the poaching pan will be used to make a sauce.

Sauce for Pink Lemonade Chicken

Into the pan, pour 3/4 cup of water and a teaspoon of cornstarch, which has been mixed with a tablespoon of water. Add the 1/3 can of remaining pink lemonade syrup. Cook till it becomes a sauce. Pour some of it on the base of your serving dish. Arrange the slices of chicken in a circular fashion. When you have finished arranging the chicken slices, drizzle the rest of the pink lemonade sauce over them.

Recipe Copyright M-J de Mesterton 2000