INGREDIENTI
- 1 large chicken
- 200 gr of minced or chopped chicken meat
- 500 gr of sausage meat
- 150 g toasted almonds
- 2 onions
- 50 ml of Prosecco DOC rosé
- 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
- 40 g of unsalted butter
- 1 sprig of sage
- 1 head/bulb of garlic
- Salt and pepper to taste
Per la salsa
- The chicken bones and trimmings
- The fat from the trimmings or 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 celery stalk
- Any herbs
- 50 ml of Prosecco DOC rosé
- 1 tbsp of tomato paste
- 20 g of unsalted butter
- 10 g of plain flour
- Water
- Salt and pepper to taste
PROCEDIMENTO
If you can, ask your butcher to debone the chicken for you, otherwise arm yourself with patience and a sharp deboning or paring knife. It isn’t rocket science I promise. I like to burn the chicken skin with a blow torch or directly on the stove to remove any remaining feathers. Now, chop off the wings and keep for the gravy.
Carefully remove the breasts by passing the knife from the wish bone to the centre of the bird gradually. In stages, check with your fingers where the bone is as you want to use it as guide until you have gradually lifted the meat from the carcass. Once you have reached the joint between at the shoulder, insert the knife into the joint and apply a little pressure to fully release the meat.
Now separate the thighs from the carcass and make an incision on the thighs and drum stick to remove the bones. Try not to pierce the flesh and scrape off any meat left on the bones to be added to the filling.
It is a job much easier to do than to explain in writing!
Once you have the chicken deboned it isn’t essential that the pieces stay together as the cooking method used will allow the roulade to stick together even from separate pieces of chicken meat.
By this stage you should be left with 2 chicken breasts and 2 sets of thighs and drumstick without bones and possibly with the skin still on. Everything else like the carcass, bones, fat trimmings, skin excess can be used for the gravy.
Put all the trimmings in a roasting tray and roast at 160°C for about 25 minutes. Now the chicken fat would be rendered and separated from the bones and trimmings, carefully remove that and save it, and roast the trimmings for another 10 to 15 minutes until everything is browned. In a large pot, brown the chopped vegs and herbs with the chicken fat and once caramelised, in 10 minutes, deglaze with a splash of Prosecco DOC. Let the alcohol cook off for 30 seconds and cover with water, add the tomato paste and let it simmer until reduced by 2 thirds. It could take a couple of hours on low heat. Now melt the butter in a little pot and add the flour to create a roux. Cook for 2 minutes and strain the liquid stock into it. Let the sauce thicken and season to taste. If needed, let it reduce further on the stove. Keep it ready for plating.
To prepare the filling, chop the onion and cook on low heat in a pot with a good glug of oil, a pinch of salt and a few sage leaves. Mix every now and then and in 20/25 minutes it should be well caramelised. Now pour in the Prosecco DOC rosé and let the alcohol cook off for 30 seconds, then remove from the stove. Mix the caramelised onion with the minced meat, the almonds and season lightly with salt and pepper. To taste test it, simply cook a little ball of it as if it was meatball mixture.
To prepare the chicken roulade, lay a double layer of cling film (use film suitable for cooking) flat on your worktop, followed by a sheet of parchment. Place the chicken pieces on it skin side down in an orderly manner to create a rectangular. Now cover with another sheet of parchment and beat it with a meat tenderizer or the bottom of a pot to flat even the meat and help the pieces stuck together. Remove the top parchment sheet and check your chicken for holes on the surfaces. If there are, patch them by pulling the meat around them and repeat the beating process. Only leave the bottom parchment when done.
Now you can dress the meat with salt and pepper and distribute a nice log of filling in the middle. With patience and care wrap the meat around the log allowing the edges to join together without overlapping. This process is similar to maki sushi making, use the parchment on the bottom to lift and roll the meat around the filling, carefully make sure the meat covers the filling without uncovered spots and let finally roll the roulade on itself leaving the touching edges on the bottom. Now for the final act, use the double film layer to wrap the roulade tight as if it was a candy.
At this stage, pierce twice the chicken roulade and give it a last ‘squeeze’ by rolling the film to allow all air out. Wrap the roulade in another layer of film or even silver foil and cook it in a steam oven or controlled water bath at 64°C for about 2 hours.
(use sous vide bag if you have)
Once ready, remove from the water bath and let it cool completely. Now unwrap the chicken, pat dry it and place it on a baking tray. Season its skin with an extra pinch of salt and pepper and add a sage sprig and the garlic head cut in half to the tray. Add a couple of knobs of butter on top and bake at 180°C for about 12/15 minutes until the chicken is golden and ready to carve. Let it rest for 1 minute, slice it and serve it with vegs and gravy and a glass of Prosecco DOC Rosé Brut.
Recipe by Danilo Cortellini
