Poached Chicken in Cream Sauce with Potato Crepes

For the chicken:

4 pound chicken

3 carrots, peeled and cut lengthwise

4 celery stalks, sliced into 3 pieces

3 leeks, trimmed and split lengthwise

1 onion, peeled and quartered

2 bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, and tarragon, peppercorns and salt

1/2 bottle of dry white wine

2 cups light cream

Juice of 1 lemon

For the crepes:

1 pound 2 ounces potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 eggs

4 egg whites

2 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

Salt and pepper

8 ounces unsalted butter, clarified

To cook the chicken, put it in a large, deep, flameproof casserole or large boiling pot with the vegetables, herbs, peppercorns, and 2 teaspoons salt.  Add the white wine and sufficient water just to cover.  Put on a high heat and bring to the boil, then skim the surface, which will have produced a gray scum.  Turn down the heat to a mere simmer.  More scum will appear from time to time, so skim the surface when necessary.  Do not cover, although you may like to turn the bird over from time to time if portions of it are not submerged.  Simmer for 1 hour.  (See recipe for crepes, below, while chicken is cooking.)

Carefully lift out the chicken and place it on a large plate.  Strain the cooking liquid into a clean saucepan and throw away the vegetables.  Put the chicken back in 1 cup of the strained stock, bring back to the boil, then remove from the heat and cover.  This is to keep the chicken warm and allow it to rest.

Reduce the rest of the stock until thick and syrupy, ending with about 1/2 cup.  Add the lemon juice and the cream and boil to reduce again, gently, until the sauce is unctuous and the consistency of thin custard.  Check the seasoning and keep the sauce warm. 

Meanwhile, to make the crepe batter, steam the potatoes until cooked through.  While still hot, put through the finest blade of a food mill into a bowl.  Leave to cool.  Mix together all the other ingredients, except the butter, in another bowl and add the potato.  Pass the whole mixture through a sieve and check the seasoning.

To cook the pancakes, heat 1 tablespoon of the clarified butter in a frying pan until hot but not smoking.  Use 1 tablespoon of the batter per pancake, and cook three pancakes at a time.  When the top of each pancake looks almost set, flip it over with a spatula, cook for a few seconds, then transfer to a warmed plate.  Continue in this fashion until all the batter is used.  Keep the crepes in a single layer on an ovenproof plate in a warm oven.

Place the whole chicken on a serving dish, arranging the crepes around the edge, and pouring the sauce over the whole bird.

From Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson