Chicken Ballotine

Today I watched a very good friend of mine, Geoffrey Lanez create a dish I have never heard or seen before. Geoffrey is on the competition team at my school and practices on his days off and I had the pleasure of working while he practiced. I did my best to capture as many pictures I could to try and give you a step by step on how he created the dish while working so I missed a few shots.

Geoffrey's prep for his ballotine and accompaniments.

After skinning and breaking down his chicken.

He scrapes the excess fat off the skin and salts it to remove moisture to increase the crispiness.

He then presses his chicken "force meat" through a metal screen to make it smooth.

After pounding a breast out he pipes his chicken force meat into the breast. And spreads it out to cover the whole breast.

He then tightly wraps it in plastic wrap so he can poach it and it will hold its shape.

I then missed out on him cooking it  (I apologize) but he poached it in water until 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Then fried in thyme and shallots and oil until the skin crisps up and reaches an internal temp of 165While that cooked he made a cranberry chutney and sweet potato puree, both of which I was unable to photograph him making. And now to the best part, plate up.

First down is the sweet potato puree.

Next, the Chicken Ballotine and pan seared Brussels sprouts

And finally the cranberry walnut chutney to finish the dish.

This is a dish that I would definitely eat again, It was surprising how easy it was to make as well as how much flavor the chicken actually had. I wish I had the chance and time to take more pictures of all the components while they were being made by Geoffrey because he executed this dish very well.