Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (118 page)

Following preceding directions, bone out the breast of the chicken. Cut breast meat into strips ⅜ inch wide and turn about in the dish with the wine, shallots, pepper, herbs, and the uncut truffles and their juice. Dipping your knife in hot water for each slice, cut the
foie gras
into ¼-inch dice; place at side of dish, and baste with the marinade. Cover marinade dish with plastic wrap, and refrigerate while making the stuffing; wrap and refrigerate the chicken.

2) The stuffing—farce à la d’Albuféra—for about 3½ cups

The chicken liver and heart (If you have the minimum of
foie gras
, add an extra chicken liver.)

3 Tb butter

A heavy-bottomed, 2- to 2½-quart enameled or stainless saucepan with cover

A large mixing bowl

¼ cup very finely minced onion

1 cup plain, raw, white, untreated rice

¼ cup dry white wine or dry white French vermouth

1 ¾ cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth

A small pinch of saffron threads

A bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

1 egg, lightly beaten

Cut the chicken liver or livers and heart into ¼-inch dice, and sauté over moderate heat in 1 tablespoon of the butter, just to stiffen them slightly; scrape into mixing bowl. Melt the rest of the butter in the pan, add the onions, and cook slowly, stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 minutes until fairly tender but not browned. Stir in the rice, and cook, stirring, for several minutes over moderate heat until rice turns translucent, then milky, indicating that the covering starch has coagulated. Pour in the wine and let cook for a moment to evaporate the alcohol.

Then pour in the chicken stock or broth, add the small pinch of saffron, the bay leaf, and bring to the simmer. Add salt and pepper as needed, stir up once, cover pan, and let cook at a moderately fast simmer, without touching it again, for 15 minutes. Rice should be almost but not quite done, needing only 2 to 3 minutes more cooking; liquid should have been entirely absorbed. Uncover pan, discard bay leaf, turn rice into mixing bowl, and let it cool to tepid. Stir in the egg.

Remove the truffles from their marinade, and cut into dice (or mince if you have only a small amount). Fold with a rubber spatula into the rice and chicken livers, and carefully correct seasoning. (Reserve the
foie gras
until next step.)

3) Stuffing and trussing the chicken

Salt cavity of chicken lightly, spread a layer of rice stuffing in it, and then a few pieces of the diced
foie gras.
Continue in layers, molding rice into a dome at the breast end. Cover with the breast strips, as
illustrated
, fold skin over breast, sew, and truss the chicken also as illustrated. (Reserve marinade juices.)

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: If both stuffing and chicken are cold, you may stuff and truss the chicken a day in advance of cooking.

4) Poaching the chicken—1½ to 1¾ hours

Poach the chicken as directed in Steps 1 and 2, Master Recipe,
here
, but use a big pinch of thyme and a bay leaf rather than tarragon in the casserole.

5) The sauce

Make the sauce as described in
Step 3 of the Master Recipe
, but omit the tarragon, and stir the
marinade liquid into it. Rather than enriching it with plain butter, use pimento butter as follows.

3 Tb canned red pimento

3 Tb soft butter

A fine-meshed sieve set over a bowl

A wooden spoon and a rubber spatula

Pinch of Cayenne pepper, or drops of Tabasco sauce

Drain the pimento and gently press out liquid. Rub it with the butter through the sieve, scraping all residue off bottom of sieve as well as banging sieve on bowl to dislodge as much as possible. Beat in Cayenne or Tabasco. Just before serving, remove sauce from heat and beat in the pimento butter, a tablespoon at a time.

6) Serving

When ready to serve, remove trussing strings and place chicken on platter. Spoon a little of the sauce over the chicken, and decorate as you wish, with truffle slices or fluted mushrooms. To carve, cut straight down through top of breast from neck end to tail end, and spread apart. Remove wings and legs. Remove breast meat with stuffing, using a serving spoon and fork, and give each guest both dark meat, light meat, and stuffing; spoon some of the sauce around or over each serving.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: See directions at
end of Master Recipe
.

OTHER STUFFINGS, OTHER SAUCES

Farce Évocation d’Albuféra

[Rice, Mushrooms, and Chicken-liver Stuffing with Purée of Garlic]

More Mediterranean in feeling than the original is the following stuffing for those occasions when you do not wish to indulge in truffles and
foie gras.

For about 3½ cups, to fill a 4½-pound half-boned chicken

1 head of garlic

¼ cup dry white wine or dry white French vermouth

1 cup chicken stock or canned chicken broth

A small covered saucepan

Separate the garlic cloves and drop into a pan of boiling water, boil 1 minute, drain, and slip off the peel. Then simmer the garlic cloves very slowly for 30 minutes with the wine and stock. Meanwhile, continue with the rest of the stuffing.

¼ pound fresh mushrooms, trimmed, washed, dried, and quartered (about 1 cup)