The Blue Foot chicken is an American variety of the rare French chicken breed, Poulet de Bresse. Like many other chickens, the Blue Foot has a red comb and white feathers, however, where it differs, true to its name, is that it has steel-blue feet. It is slaughtered later than the usual chicken and then air-chilled. These two factors attribute to its highly praised stronger flavor and lean yet firm texture. Out of respect for the Blue Foot’s rarity and quality, and to authenticate its breeding, the feet are traditionally included in tableside presentation.
Also called the California Poulet Bleu, you can easily find Blue Foot Chicken at MarxFoods, who gracioulsy provided this recipe for Seduction Meal readers. It is an easy alternative to roasting the whole blue foot chicken, however, the recipe can easily be adapted to most poultry. If you purchase the whole chicken, you will first need to fabricate the whole chicken in order to obtain the breasts and leg-thigh combos this recipe calls for. Click here to find out just how to “fabricate” the bird.
Pan-Roasted Blue Poulet with Roasted Yams and Herbs
Recipe courtesy of MarxFoods.com
(serves 4-5)
Ingredients:
- 2 Blue Poulet breasts and 2 thigh-leg combos.
- 2 yams or sweet potatoes
- rosemary
- 1 cup heavy cream
- one shallot
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 tbs of butter
- ½ cup dry white wine
- Oil for the pan (peanut, vegetable, olive (not extra virgin)
Roast Yams or Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Rough chop the yams or potatoes into equivalent sized pieces.
- Place in a single layer in a baking dish and season lightly with salt, pepper and oil. Put in the hot oven to roast.
- Remove the yam from the oven halfway through cooking to turn pieces. Return to the oven.
- When finished remove from the oven and garnish with fresh rosemary.
Chicken Cooking Procedure:
- Dry the blue poulet pieces, then season with salt and pepper.
- Heat
a pan to medium-high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of high-temp oil to
the pan. Once hot, add the blue poulet pieces skin-side down. Once
placed, try not to move the blue poulet pieces around too much as the
goal is to develop a flavorful sear. - After the skin side is golden
brown, flip the blue foot chicken and throw in a few sprigs of thyme
and the butter. As the butter melts, use it to baste the chicken pieces
for flavor and moisture. - Continue cooking, basting frequently, until
blue foot chicken is done (if unsure, use a thermometer to make sure it
has reached 165 degrees). If cooking leg-thigh combos and breasts
simultaneously, it is likely the blue poulet chicken breasts will
finish first. Remove them from the pan and finish the dark meat in the
oven (~375). - Once all of the poulet meat is done, remove it from the
hot pan, and add one peeled and finely sliced shallot and white wine to
the pan. Stir to dislodge and dissolve the brown bits at the bottom of
the pan (called fond in French cuisine). - Cook for a few minutes
until the wine is reduced to the au sec stage (the pan is almost dry),
then add cream. Reduce the sauce to nappe (coats the back of a spoon
without running off, and running your finger through the coating leaves
a clearly visible stripe of spoon) and strain if desired
Plating the Dish
- Slice the
breasts (if used) at an angle for your guest’s convenience and move to
a bed of roasted yam/sweet potato on the plate. - Spoon on some of the
cream pan sauce (but don’t hide the meat too much, you’ve worked hard
for that beautiful brown color).
