I have been thinking about creating a dish with all the autumnal flavours all week, pine mushrooms, chestnuts and cashews paired with the most humble protein of all, chicken. Cooking for me is like piecing together a puzzle, in this instance, it took a while to put all the pieces into place. Thinking and working through from an initial rough idea, to how I could bring in different elements to balance and enhance the flavours, what textures I can add, what sauce to make to tie all the components together, and lastly how it would all translate onto the plate visually. This dish took a bit longer than I expected which means the cook was pushed from a weekend leisurely cook into a weekday after work mad cook. It was a big push to make sure that despite all the components I want to do, that I'm still eating at a reasonable hour. I got there at the end and by some kind of miracle, everything went right in the kitchen today and it was exactly how I have imagined it in my head. Happy days despite the rainy and cold weather outside all week.
If you want to make this dish, I would recommend to plan ahead a little so you can break up the cook over 2 days.
Difficulty: High
Time: 90 minutes*
Serves: 2
* Excludes time on making pate brisee, chicken stock and cashew miso puree as I already have these components in my fridge. I'll include the full recipe for all components in this recipe however.
Ingredients
'Roast' Chicken
- 2 chicken breasts skin on
- salt
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp oil
Chicken Stock
- 1 kilo chicken wings
- 1/2 chicken feet
- 1/2 cup sliced onions
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 1 roma tomato diced
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 springs thyme
- 2 tsp tomato paste
- oil
Chicken Jus
- 1 cup dry sherry
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 sprig thyme
- 2 tbsp butter
- brown sugar
- salt
- pepper
- 3 generous pinches xanthan gum
Tart Shells (Pate Brisee)
- 250g plain lour
- 150g butter cut into small pieces and slightly softened
- 1tsp salt
- pinch of caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp cold milk
Pine Mushroom and Chestnut Tart
- 2 tart shells
- 1 cup chestnuts with shells removed
- 1 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 medium sized pine mushroom diced
- 2 medium sized pine mushroom sliced
- 1/2 cup cashew nuts
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 tsp white miso paste
- pecorino for shaving
- salt
- oil
Method
One Day Before
Chicken Stock
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Spread the chicken wings in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Roast until golden brown over 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. Turning every 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a stock pot. Sauté the onion, celery, carrots over medium heat until they are well caramelised for about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the tomato paste and sauce until caramelised for about 5 minutes. Add the thyme, bay leaves, chicken wings and chicken feet, add enough water so the water level is about 5 cm above the ingredients. Bring to boil and simmer over low heat for 3-5 hours. The longer you cook this the more flavours it will develop. Once ready, bring to boil with lid uncovered until it had reduced to approximately 20 cups of liquid.
3. Place 2 cups of liquid per ziplock bag and you can freeze these away for your next cook. Retain 2 cups for this recipe the next day.
Pate Brisee
1. Heap the flour on a work surface and make a well. Put in the butter, salt, sugar and egg. Using your finger tips, mix and cream these ingredients together.
2. Slowly incorporate the flour, working the dough delicately until it has a grainy texture.
3. Add the milk and incorporate gently with your fingertips until the dough begins to hold together.
4. Using the palm of your hand, work the dough by pushing it away from you 4 or 5 times, until it's smooth. Roll it into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate overnight.
On the Day
Tart Shell
1. Take the pate brisee out of the fridge, let it soften a little. Flour your work bench generously and roll out the pastry into a sheet of about 2mm thick. Cut out 2 circles with an 8mm perforated tart rings 2 long strips the width of your tart rings and length the diameter of your tart ring. Gently line the inside wall of the tart rings and trim off excess pastry with a knife. Pierce the bottom of each tart with a fork few times.
2. Line tart shells with a baking paper and fill with baking beads. Place the tarts inside the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Check after 10 minutes. It's cooked when it's lightly tanned. Let it cool and set aside once cooked.
'Roast' Chicken
1. Sprinkle the chicken breasts generously with salt and place it inside ziplock bag. Cook it in a 63 degree sous vide bath for 30 minutes. It will be finished in a pan later with butter.
Chicken Jus
1. Put the dry sherry into a small sauce pan, reduce to half before adding the chicken stock, the butter and the thyme. Cook until the sauce is reduced to approximately 1/2 cup and season with salt, pepper and pinch of brown sugar to taste. Add the xanthan gum to thicken the sauce. If you don't have xanthan gum you can use other thickeners as well. Keep warm and pass the sauce through a sieve into a sauce bottle before serving.
Pine Mushroom and Chestnut Tart
1. Place all the chestnuts in a small pan with the chicken stock, bring to boil and cook over medium low heat for 20 minutes until cooked and softened.
2. Place the cashew nuts, miso and milk into a blender and blend into a smooth puree. Set aside.
3. Sauté the diced pine mushrooms in a pan with oil and salt. Set aside.
3. Sauté the sliced pine mushrooms in a pan with oil and salt. Set aside.
4. Transfer 3/4 cup of the cooked chestnuts to a blender with 1/4 cup of the chicken stock. Blend into a smooth puree and set aside. Add more chicken stock it's it's too thick. It should be the consistency of a thick puree that would hold its shape well.
5. Break up the remaining 1/4 cup of the cooked chestnuts into similar sizes as the diced pine mushroom, set aside.
6. To assemble the tart, place 1 tea spoon of the cashew miso puree at the bottom of the tart shell. Followed by diced pine mushrooms and chestnut pieces. Shave the pecorino sauce generously over it. Fill the rest of the tart with chestnut puree with a butter knife and ensure it has a smooth surface.
7. Line up the pine mushrooms neatly in a single layer. Place the tart ring on top of the mushrooms and trim off any excess outside the tart ring. Place it on top of the tart. Keep warm and set aside.
'Roast' Chicken
1. Heat up the butter and oil in a heavy cast iron pan. Place the chicken breast skin side down to brown the skin for a few minutes. Turn the chicken breast around and tilt the pan at an angle. Spoon the butter over the chicken skin to colour it. Do this for a few minutes until it's golden in colour. Take it off heat, let it cool down a little before cutting it to size.
Plating
1. To assemble, place a slice of the chicken breast on the plate, and the tart on the left of the chicken. Pour on the chicken jus with extra on the side. Enjoy!