Roasted Chicken Bouchées

Chicken and pastry with cream sauce. Yum.

I’ve been a little distracted.

I've been remiss in my food blogging, although I've been cooking up a storm!

The good news on this end is that I'm no longer cooking just for me. I'm still in my tiny kitchen (which I love!), but now there are two of us. Sometimes it's a little cramped, but close quarters are fine when you love the company.

This is my fiancé and master taste-tester, John. He'll be showing up here from time to time as he tests my blog recipes. It's always good to have an extra set of eyes in case I miss some detail. 

Never one to shy from a challenge, he went for the gold with his first coking challenge: On New Year's Eve, he made Beef Wellington!

Actually, he fixed an issue with his truck and made Beef Wellington. I was impressed. I told him it couldn’t be done, that beef wellington takes all day, but he did it. He’s a stubborn man. Never mind that we ate dinner around midnight…. I was still impressed!

Roasted Chicken Bouchées

Recently I served up Roasted Chicken Bouchées. The rough puff recipe is from Michel Roux's book, "Pastry".  There are just so many ways to use rough puff dough!  

Rough Puff Pastry

Much easier than classic puff pastry, rough puff pastry is quicker to make. It's every bit as flavorful and rises to 75% of the classic version.

• 500g all-purpose flour

• 500g very cold butter, cut into small cubes

• 6g salt

• 250ml ice-cold water

Put the flour in a mound on your counter or in a large mixing bowl. Work in the butter and salt with your fingertips until the texture becomes crumbly.

Once your mix is grainy, work in the cold water. When the water is fully incorporated, roll the dough into a ball. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, flour the counter and roll the dough into a large rectangle.

Fold the dough like a book (sort of).

Give the dough a quarter turn, then roll it into a second rectangle. Fold into three again. Your dough should be gaining a smoother consistency.

Wrap the dough in cling film and put it back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, you'll be doing two more turns, just like these.

After you've done a total of four turns, let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using.   While the dough is resting....

Roasted Chicken

To serve, I cut this chicken up into small pieces anyway, so there are many ways to cook your chicken.

In this instance, I used two large bone-in chicken breast/thighs. Rubbed the skin with sea-salt and pepper. In a shallow baking dish, add 1/4 cup olive oil, about a cup of water, some thyme, onions and a bay leaf.

Bake the chicken, uncovered, at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes. When cooked through, slice the chicken. Save the pan of juices for gravy...

Back to our dough!

Reset your oven temperature to 350 degrees.

You can use all of the dough, or just part, depending on how many people you are serving. This dough will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator, or up to 4 weeks in the freezer.

I used only 1/3 of my dough here and saved the rest for later.

Flour the counter and roll the dough into a rectangle. Your dough should be about 1/4" thick or slightly less. Use a 3.5" biscuit cutter to cut an even number of circles.

Use a smaller biscuit cutter (2" - 2.5") to cut smaller circles out of HALF your circles. The rings will form the walls of your cups.

Set your circles on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Lightly brush the edges with egg wash. Place the rings on top of the circles, egg wash down, pressing slightly.

Prick the centers of your cups a few times with a fork.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Once risen, remove and place on a rack. Use a paring knife to gently remove any excess puff from the centers and discard (discard = eat!).

Gravy, anyone?

• 1/2 cup flour

• 1/2 water (or use juices from chicken - or a mix of both)

• 1/4 cream

• 1 tsp Arrowroot

In a small bowl, whisk the flour and Arrowroot into the water until smooth. In a small sauce pan, bring the remaining water and cream to a simmer. Slowly add the flour mix and stir over med-high heat until it thickens. Season to taste.

Assembly

Place the chicken slices in the bouchées. Ladle gravy over the bouchées and garnish with thyme. Serve immediately.

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as we did.