This post is also available in:
Français (French)
Staying with fall colors, here’s a dish that has made my top 3 favorite recipes: a chicken supreme glazed with black garlic sauce, served with a butternut squash swirl glazed with clementine and ginger.
The contrast already suits the season. On one side, an opaque black glaze over golden skin; on the other, a translucent orange spiral. Black garlic tastes sweet and a little tangy, far from the bite of raw garlic. Clementine and ginger brighten the sweetness of the squash.
Homemade chicken stock reduced to a glace, then blended with a black garlic gastrique, holds the glaze on the skin of the supreme, thanks to the stock’s gelatin and the caramel.
Black garlic is an ingredient you see more and more in kitchens. It’s made from white garlic: the heads spend several weeks at 60 to 90 °C (140 to 194 °F) in a humid environment. The cloves come out black and sweet.
Its sweetness and color come from a slow Maillard reaction.
I wanted to balance the intensity of the black glaze with the sauce on the squash swirl: the acidity of clementine, while keeping its sweetness, and the kick of ginger to lift the mildness of the squash.
Both elements of the dish share caramelization, along with a play of textures: crisp on the outside, tender on the inside.
My tips
- Salt the supremes the day before: the skin dries, then crisps under the glaze. In the US, look for supremes sold as airline chicken breasts.
- Stop the caramel at amber. Any darker and the sauce turns bitter.
- The sauce sets as it cools: rewarm it over a gentle water bath and add a little chicken stock to loosen it if needed.
- Choose a butternut squash with a long, straight neck: the strips run the length of the neck, so the spiral needs fewer joins.
- If you want to make the ginger juice yourself but don’t have a juicer, grate the ginger finely and squeeze it through a clean cloth.
AuthorFatouCategoryMain dishesDifficultyIntermediate
Weigh the chicken and salt it at 1% of its weight, mostly on the flesh side, with a light dusting on the skin. Set the pieces skin side up on a wire rack and refrigerate, uncovered.
In a small saucepan, simmer 360 g (about 1½ cups) of the stock until reduced to a third.
Meanwhile, melt the sugar dry in a small saucepan until amber.
Off the heat, pour in the cider vinegar.
Add the water and black garlic, simmer for 5 minutes, then reduce over low heat, stirring, to half its starting depth.
Off the heat, combine this gastrique (a caramel deglazed with vinegar) and the glace in the narrow cup of an immersion blender.
Blend for 1 minute, until smooth and glossy, then season with salt.
Reduce the clementine juice and honey to a third over medium heat.
Off the heat, whisk in the cold butter, then add the ginger juice and salt.
Cut the neck from the bulb and peel it. If it is wider than the mandoline blade, trim it to that width.
Slice it lengthwise 2 mm (1/16 in) thick, using the hand guard.
Cut the slices into 3 cm (1¼ in) wide strips.
Depending on the squash, you’ll need 6 or 7 strips per swirl.
Brush the clementine glaze on the inside face of each strip.
Fold the end of a strip over by 1 cm (⅜ in), then roll it up tightly. Overlap the next strip by 1 cm and keep going to form a swirl.
Stop at 6 cm (2¼ in) across, or whatever size you like.
Loop a piece of twine around the middle of each swirl and knot it.
Set the swirls in the pan.
Add the water, cover, and cook over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife tip slides into the center without resistance. Add a splash of water if the pan runs dry.
Uncover and let the water evaporate. Pour the glaze over and around the swirls over medium-low heat, and brush the tops twice with it.
Turn off the heat as soon as the base of the swirls turns amber, after 3 to 5 minutes.
While the pan is still hot, slide a thin spatula under each swirl and move it to a wire rack.
Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then snip the twine.
Brush once more in a single pass, then run the torch flame over the edges.
Finish with a pinch of fleur de sel.
Take the chicken out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking and pat the skin dry.
Heat the skillets over medium heat with the oil and place two supremes in each, skin side down.
Cook for 12 to 15 minutes without moving them, pressing with a spatula for the first minute.
Lower the heat if the skin browns before 10 minutes.
Flip when the flesh has turned white two-thirds of the way through and the skin releases on its own.
Cook over low heat for 3 to 6 minutes, uncovered, to an internal temperature of 65 °C (149 °F), if you have a thermometer.
Rest for 5 minutes on a wire rack, skin side up.
Right before serving, spoon or brush the sauce over the skin of each supreme in a single pass.
Ingredients
Directions
Weigh the chicken and salt it at 1% of its weight, mostly on the flesh side, with a light dusting on the skin. Set the pieces skin side up on a wire rack and refrigerate, uncovered.
In a small saucepan, simmer 360 g (about 1½ cups) of the stock until reduced to a third.
Meanwhile, melt the sugar dry in a small saucepan until amber.
Off the heat, pour in the cider vinegar.
Add the water and black garlic, simmer for 5 minutes, then reduce over low heat, stirring, to half its starting depth.
Off the heat, combine this gastrique (a caramel deglazed with vinegar) and the glace in the narrow cup of an immersion blender.
Blend for 1 minute, until smooth and glossy, then season with salt.
Reduce the clementine juice and honey to a third over medium heat.
Off the heat, whisk in the cold butter, then add the ginger juice and salt.
Cut the neck from the bulb and peel it. If it is wider than the mandoline blade, trim it to that width.
Slice it lengthwise 2 mm (1/16 in) thick, using the hand guard.
Cut the slices into 3 cm (1¼ in) wide strips.
Depending on the squash, you’ll need 6 or 7 strips per swirl.
Brush the clementine glaze on the inside face of each strip.
Fold the end of a strip over by 1 cm (⅜ in), then roll it up tightly. Overlap the next strip by 1 cm and keep going to form a swirl.
Stop at 6 cm (2¼ in) across, or whatever size you like.
Loop a piece of twine around the middle of each swirl and knot it.
Set the swirls in the pan.
Add the water, cover, and cook over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife tip slides into the center without resistance. Add a splash of water if the pan runs dry.
Uncover and let the water evaporate. Pour the glaze over and around the swirls over medium-low heat, and brush the tops twice with it.
Turn off the heat as soon as the base of the swirls turns amber, after 3 to 5 minutes.
While the pan is still hot, slide a thin spatula under each swirl and move it to a wire rack.
Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then snip the twine.
Brush once more in a single pass, then run the torch flame over the edges.
Finish with a pinch of fleur de sel.
Take the chicken out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking and pat the skin dry.
Heat the skillets over medium heat with the oil and place two supremes in each, skin side down.
Cook for 12 to 15 minutes without moving them, pressing with a spatula for the first minute.
Lower the heat if the skin browns before 10 minutes.
Flip when the flesh has turned white two-thirds of the way through and the skin releases on its own.
Cook over low heat for 3 to 6 minutes, uncovered, to an internal temperature of 65 °C (149 °F), if you have a thermometer.
Rest for 5 minutes on a wire rack, skin side up.
Right before serving, spoon or brush the sauce over the skin of each supreme in a single pass.