Chicken Vol-au-Vent (French Bouchette à la Reine Ragout Fin)

There is often some confusion between a bouchée à la reine and a vol-au-vent. The first one is attributed to a French queen, while the last one is the work of one of the greatest French chefs of the time. Indeed, it is to Marie Leczinska (1703-1768), Queen of France and wife of Louis XV, that we owe the delicious recipe for bouchée à la reine. Marie Leczinska was the daughter of King Stanislaus of Poland, who was dethroned and exiled to Lorraine, in the east of France. This version uses Sauce Suprême with a Sauce Velouté which is enriched with egg yolks and heavy cream (liaison) and finished with a dash of lemon juice. 

Sauce Velouté:
2½ cups chicken stock, more as needed
1 oz clarified butter (~ 2 Tbsp)
1 oz all-purpose flour, unbleached (~ 3 Tbsp)

Chicken:
sea salt
water, for poaching
2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, diced

Velouté Suprême:
1 qt chicken velouté
1 cup heavy cream
1 oz butter
sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground
lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Make the Sauce Velouté:
Bring 2½ cups chicken stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Lower the heat to keep the stock hot.

In a separate heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt 1 oz clarified butter over medium heat until it becomes frothy. Take care not to let it turn brown, as velouté must be off-white in colour. Browning the butter will make a darker sauce.

With a wooden spoon, stir 1 oz all-purpose flour into the butter, melted a little bit at a time, until it is fully incorporated. The resulting pale yellow-coloured paste is called a roux.

Heat the roux for another few minutes or so, until it has turned a light blond colour. This helps cook off the raw flour flavour. Don't let the mixture turn brown for the same reason the clarified butter needed to be kept light in colour: The sauce must be pale.

Using a wire whisk, slowly add the hot chicken stock to the roux, whisking vigorously to make sure it's free of lumps. Keep whisking while adding the stock.

Simmer, reducing the heat as needed, for about 30 minutes or until the total volume has reduced by about one-half, stirring frequently to make sure the sauce doesn't scorch at the bottom of the pan or form lumps while cooking. Use a ladle to skim off any solids or impurities that might rise to the surface.

The sauce should be smooth and velvety. If it's too thick, whisk in a bit more stock until it's just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This technique involves that the sauce has adequate viscosity to coat the back of the utensil without running off it.

Once you can coat the back of a spoon, remove the sauce from the heat. For an extra smooth consistency, carefully pour the sauce through a wire mesh strainer lined with a piece of cheesecloth.

Poach the Chicken:
Simmer the chicken in salted water for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse, reserve the stock for the Sauce Suprême.

Make Velouté Suprême:
As a base sauce, velouté can be made into other sauces to complement chicken dishes beautifully. In a slow simmer, reduce the velouté by a quarter; warm the cream and add it to the sauce. Add the butter to the velouté mixture, + a pinch of salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt or pepper if needed. Lastly, add 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice while whisking well. Add more lemon to suit your palate. Use the sauce over poached or roasted chicken and as a moistening agent if you overcooked your chicken and dried it out.

Assembly:
Add the chicken to the Sauce Suprême, mix, check for seasonings, adjust if necessary. Divide the ragout between 4 vol-au-vent pastries and serve.

Cook's Notes:

Storage:

• Refrigerate velouté sauce in a closed container for up to 3 days.
• To freeze velouté sauce, cool it and transfer to a resealable freezer bag or airtight container. Freeze the sauce for up to 3 months.

Velouté Soup:

Make a velouté soup - 1 cup of a vegetable of your choice (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, butternut squash), 2 cups of water, ½ cup of velouté, ½ cup of cream, 1 egg yolk and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer the vegetable in the water until tender. Drain but leave ¼ cup of liquid and process in a blender.

Return the puréed vegetable to a pan, add the velouté, taste for salt and pepper and add accordingly. Keep the mixture on a low simmer. Slightly heat the cream and whisk in the egg yolk. Carefully add the cream mixture to the vegetable base and stir well. Cook on low for a few minutes until the soup has reached the desired consistency.

Nutritional Information:
Per serving: Calories: 95 | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 7g | Protein: 3g