Chicken Villeroy, recipe for a giant chicken croquette
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Total: 1 h Diners: 3
Let’s start by pronouncing it right, note because it is said ‘vileruá’ and not ‘villeroi’ which is what we usually call it in Spain. Although this recipe for chicken Villeroy will have little to do with the canonical one, not even with the one that the Marquise de Parabere quotes in her book where in the béchamel that coats the chicken breasts she also introduces raw egg yolks and no cream cheese.
Actually, to be precise, we would have to talk about Chicken a la Villeroy, a French duchy that François de Neufville held after his father and whose cook had the good fortune to give birth to this recipe. How not to name it after his lord! Something very typical, by the way, in France at that time. Let’s go deeper: Villeroy is a sauce, not a way of preparing chicken. It is a béchamel sauce to which raw egg yolks are added at the end and in which also used to appear truffles or finely chopped mushrooms in it.
In its original format, Villeroy sauce was not invented for chicken but for brains, lamb or strong-flavored pieces of offal since it was said that the sauce was so enriched that it made the flavor of the product softer. The reality is that it gives juiciness to that chicken that many times is too dry. Let’s go by parts because here there is a lot of chicha.
As you will see in the recipe, I decided to make the version that we usually prepare in Spain with a traditional bechamel sauce that I enrich with a little cream cheese instead of egg yolks, it gives more fat, but also appears the flavor of the cheese. The secret is to use slightly thick breast fillets and grill them very hot so that they are slightly raw on the inside and then during the whole process they finish cooking. The chicken can also be marinated overnight in milk and lemon and with that we will gain more juiciness. Of course you could also cook the breasts at low temperature.
As for the béchamel, you can add an onion to the butter and poach it making a sauce before adding the flour, you can add at the end a little black truffle or sobrasada or roasted peppers and grind. The options to add flavor are endless. In addition, you can try adding some ham or stew broth to enhance the flavor or you can infuse the milk in ham or chicken bones.
Afterwards, you will only have to coat the chicken well with bechamel sauce and let it cool down, coat in batter – for which I recommend double coating with flour, egg and breadcrumbs – and fry at medium heat because we need it to brown gradually and the bechamel sauce to heat up inside. A trick: if you see that you have browned too quickly, put the breasts already fried in the oven preheated to 180 ºC for 10 minutes, they will finish cooking.
How to make chicken Villeroy
Ingredients
. Chicken breast, 1 pc Salt, c/s Ground black pepper, c/s Butter, 60 g Flour, 40 g Whole milk, 350 ml Cured cheese cream, 1 tablespoon Breadcrumbs, 200 g Egg, 1 pc Flour, 200 g Mild olive oil for frying, abundant
Step 1
Cut the breast into three fillets, season with salt and pepper and sear on a very strong griddle, turning over and over, browning on both sides. Remove and set aside.
Step 2
In the same pan melt the butter and cook the flour in it, stirring with a whisk so that it cooks but does not brown. Then add the milk and cook over medium heat until it takes body and consistency. Season with salt and pepper and add nutmeg if desired.
Step 3
With the help of a piece of cling film wrap each breast fillet in the béchamel sauce. Wrap well and close. Place in the refrigerator to get a good consistency.
Step 4
Dip each breast in flour and then in beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Thoroughly so that it is well coated in breadcrumbs.
Step 5
Fry in plenty of olive oil over medium heat, about 160 ºC to brown evenly and gradually. Remove to a kitchen paper to absorb any remaining oil.
