Poule au pot with caper and shallot cream
Leave out the chicken livers from the stuffing if you prefer, but if so increase the amount of bacon by 50g (1¾oz). You don’t have to serve the cream sauce and it isn’t authentic, just something I do myself. A pot of Dijon mustard suffices, or go Italian and serve with Salsa verde
Ingrediënten
FOR THE STUFFING
- 15 g ½oz unsalted butter
- 150 g 5½oz bacon, chopped
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 chicken livers chopped
- 60 g 2oz fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 small egg lightly beaten
- handful of chopped parsley
- good grating of fresh nutmeg
- finely grated zest of ½ lemon
FOR THE CHICKEN
- 1.4 kg 3lb 3½oz chicken
- 3 leeks
- 1 celery stick
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- small bunch of parsley stalks
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 black peppercorns
- 1 onion quartered
- 12 slim carrots peeled
- 1.5 litres 2 pints 13fl oz chicken stock, or water
- about 12 small waxy potatoes
FOR THE SAUCE
- juice of ½ lemon
- 300 ml ½ pint double cream
- leaves from 2 sprigs of tarragon chopped
- 2 tsp finely chopped parsley
- 3 tbsp capers rinsed
- 2 small shallots finely chopped
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructies
- To make the stuffing, melt the butter in a frying pan and add the bacon and onion.
- Sauté until the onion is soft and pale gold.
- Add the garlic and chicken livers and cook for a couple of minutes more.
- Put into a bowl, add all the other ingredients and season well.
- Remove the fat from round the cavity of the chicken and stuff it, sewing it up with a poultry needle, or using a couple of skewers to keep it secure.
- Tie up the chicken legs to keep the shape neat (not essential but it does look better).
- Remove the coarser outer leaves from the leeks and cut off the dark tops and trim the bases.
- Cut into 6cm (2½in) lengths and wash thoroughly to remove any trapped soil.
- Cut the celery in half and tie it in a bundle with the thyme, parsley stalks and bay leaves to make a nice fat bouquet garni.
- Put this into a pot with the chicken, peppercorns, quartered onion, carrots and stock or water.
- Bring to the boil, then immediately reduce the heat, cover and cook really gently for 1½ hours.
- Fifteen minutes before the end of cooking time, add the leeks and boil the potatoes (I like to cook the potatoes separately or they make the broth cloudy).
- Remove the onion and the bouquet garni.
- To make the sauce, add the lemon juice to the cream – it will thicken as you stir it in – then add everything else.
- Check for seasoning and balance.
- A whole chicken that’s been poached – without browning – isn’t a thing of beauty, so I tend to remove the meat and put it on a platter with the vegetables and stuffing and provide a big jug of the broth (or you can prepare a single plate for each person).
- I like it best served in soup plates (there’s room for the broth).
- Offer the creamy sauce, or whatever sauce you want to serve, and some Dijon mustard on the side.
