Light Chicken Blanquette

📝 Ingredients

• 600 g chicken breasts
• 3 carrots (300 g)
• 1 brown onion
• 1 clove
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 stock cube + 750 ml water
• 250 g button mushrooms
• 280 g long-grain rice
• 2 tbsp cornflour (20 g)
• 150 ml light single cream
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 lemon
• Salt, white pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large saucepan with lid
• Medium saucepan
• Slotted spoon
• Whisk
• Bowl
• Cutting board and knife

📖 Steps

1. Cut the chicken breasts into large 3 cm cubes. Peel the carrots and slice them into 1 cm rounds. Peel the onion, halve it and stud one half with the clove. Clean the mushrooms and cut them into quarters.
2. Put the carrots, onion and bay leaf in the large saucepan with the stock cube and the 750 ml of cold water. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, then cook for 10 min: the carrots should start to soften before you add the meat.
3. Add the chicken, which should be just covered by the liquid, and use the slotted spoon to skim off the grey scum that rises to the surface. Cover and poach for 10 min over a low heat: the water should barely simmer and never boil hard, or the chicken will turn dry and stringy.
4. Meanwhile, bring salted water to the boil in the medium saucepan and cook the rice for 10 to 12 min over a medium heat, following the packet instructions. Drain it and keep it warm, covered, until serving.
5. Add the mushrooms to the chicken and simmer for another 5 min: the chicken should be white all the way through. Lift out the meat and vegetables with the slotted spoon and discard the onion and bay leaf. Keep only 300 ml of stock in the pan: the rest can be used for a soup.
6. In the bowl, mix the cornflour into the cold cream until there are no lumps left. Pour this mixture into the simmering stock, whisking constantly: within 1 to 2 min, the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
7. Take the pan off the heat. In the rinsed bowl, whisk the egg yolk with the juice of the half lemon, whisk in a ladleful of the hot sauce, then pour everything back into the pan. Don't let it boil again, or the yolk will go lumpy.
8. Return the chicken, carrots and mushrooms to the sauce, stir and warm through for 2 min over a very low heat without boiling. Season with salt and pepper, then serve straight away with the rice.