The Best Ever French Cooking Course
Chicken and Pistachio Pâté (Ballotine de Volaille aux Pistaches)
Page 127
Cuisine: French | Course Type: Appetizers
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Recipe Reviews
This is not the kind of thing you'd make for dinner for two, so I've been saving this recipe for a party. Took it this afternoon to an apèro, where it was a big hit. Might also be nice at a picnic. The log is not too impressive to look at, perhaps, but the slices are lovely with bits of white (chicken breast), pink (ham), and green (pistachios). It can easily, and probably should, be made the day before you want to serve it.
The step where you're boning and detendoning chicken to end up with 900g (2#) for flesh is *very* tedious. I defrosted three legs, two thighs, and a chicken, and bought a package of about 10 thighs. (Legs seem to have more tendons than meat.) I ended up with ~1080g, rather than 900g, so upped measurements by ~20%.
This pile of meat gets puréed (thank you, food processor), then tossed with the rest of the ingredients, formed into a log, and baked for a good long while.
- There were no green onions in the shops (not a surprise), so I used aillets instead and skipped the garlic. It smelled of garlic after cooking, but tasted fine. (Neither I nor google seem to know what aillets are in English. Someone suggested ramps to me, but the leaves stay round like a green onion, not broad like ramps seem to be. Aillets look like green onions, with a purply tinge, and a pronounced but not overpowering garlic smell and taste. I chop them up in sauces and salads sometimes.)
- No fresh tarragon to be found this week, so I used dry.
Another super recipe from this cookbook.
(edited 25th April 2015) (0) comment (0) useful
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