Chicken en Croute Recipe
Puff pastry encased chicken breast or chicken en croute, a really tasty and hearty recipe that I like to serve with a creamy mushroom sauce.
Servings 2 Servings
Calories 1308kcal
Ingredients
For the Mushroom Duxelles:
- 250 g Chestnut Mushrooms 2-2½ Cups
- 1 Small-Medium Echalion or Banana Shallot 35g
- 25 g Butter 2 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon
- ¼-½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
For the Mushroom Sauce:
- 150 g Small Chestnut Mushrooms 1¼-1½ Cups
- 25 g Butter 2 tablespoon + 1 Tsp
- 1 Small-Medium Echalion or Banana Shallot 35g
- 1 tablespoon Flour
- 75 ml Dry Sherry ⅓ Cup
- 125 ml Chicken Stock ½ Cup
- 75 ml Double Cream ⅓ Cup (Heavy cream in the US)
- 10 g Fresh Parsley ¼ Packed cup
- Salt to taste
For the Chicken Parcels:
- 2 Small Skinless Chicken Breasts 150-175g each
- 1 teaspoon Cooking Oil
- 1 Packet 500g Puff Pastry
- 50 g Thick Cut Ham 1¾ oz
- Mushroom Duxelles see above
- ¼ teaspoon Salt plus a pinch of coarse sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 2 tablespoon Milk
Instructions
For the Mushroom Duxelles (40 Minutes + Cooling Time):
- Place the mushrooms in a blender and pulse until they form a coarse (5-8mm, just over ¼") crumb.
- Peel and dice the shallot as finely as you can.
- Heat a wide-based (28cm or 11") not nonstick frying pan over a medium-low heat.
- When the pan is hot, add the butter and wait for it to melt.Add the mushrooms, shallot, salt and pepper and cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 4-5 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, the water should have been driven off from the mushrooms, and you will be left with quite a dry mushroom "paste". Set this aside and allow it to cool.
For the Mushroom Sauce (25 Minutes):
- Cut the mushrooms into slices 3-4mm (⅛") thick.
- Peel the shallot and dice it as finely as you can.
- Heat a small saucepan (18cm or 7") over a medium-high heat and, when it is hot, add the butter.When the butter begins to foam, add the shallots and soften for 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until they begin to colour (stirring occasionally) and all of the moisture has evaporated, this will take around 5-7 minutes.
- Add in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously, the texture will go claggy, this is fine.
- Pour in the dry sherry and cook until the sherry has almost all evaporated.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the chicken stock, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Have a taste and add more salt if required. Remember, we are adding cream, so the mushrooms should be a little too salty at this point.
- Add the cream 5 minutes before the chicken parcels come out of the oven and cook over a low heat, making sure that the sauce does not boil.
- Just before serving, finally chop the parsley and stir it through the sauce.
For the Chicken Parcels (50 Minutes):
- Rub the chicken breasts with the oil and season with the ¼ teaspoon of salt and pepper.
- Heat a wide-based (28cm or 11" not non-stick) frying pan over a medium-high heat.
- When the pan is hot, add the chicken breasts presentation (skin side) down and cook until they go golden, which will take3-4 minutes.Flip the chicken and cook for another 2-3 minutes, then remove and set aside on a plate.
- Roll out the puff pastry until it is 4-5mm (just under ¼") thick (using as much flour as needed to stop it sticking) and cut it so that it forms four rectangles. Two rectangles should be 1½-2cm (½-¾") larger than the chicken breast; the other two should be around 25% larger than the first two.
- Cut the ham so that it is the same shape and size as the chicken breast.
- To build, place one of the rectangles of pastry on your work surface and place the ham on top of it in the centre.
- Spread half of the mushroom duxelles on top of the ham in an even layer.
- Place the chicken breast on top of the mushroom and ham.
- Take a second sheet of pastry and run over it with a pastry lattice cutter.
- Tease the pastry open so that it forms a good-looking lattice.
- Using your finger, run some water on the bottom layer of puff pastry around the edge of the chicken.
- Place the pastry lattice over the chicken and gently seal the edges by pressing down.
- Cut the parcel so that it is the shape of the chicken and place it on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.Repeat steps 7-14 for the second parcel and place it on the baking sheet.
- Finally, brush the pastry with a little milk so that it glazes nicely and sprinkle with just a little coarse sea salt.
- Place it in an oven at 200°C or 400°F and cook for 25-30 minutes or until the thickest part of the chicken reaches 73°C or 164°F.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 1308kcal | Carbohydrates: 71g | Protein: 70g | Fat: 83g | Saturated Fat: 29g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 48g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 243mg | Sodium: 1707mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 11g
