Chicken galantine
( Galantina di pollo )

Chicken galantine recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Begin the day before ...
  Blaze chicken (blazing means you have to pass it quickly over a flame in order to flame its skin and little feathers). Then cut its neck off.
  Place your chicken on a chopping board with its chest down.
  Remove its skin and tear off its flesh from the bones.
  You have to dice its breast; mince remaining flesh.
  Cut ham, mortadella and bacon into strips (or cube them if you prefer).
  Let chicken breast marinate in Marsala for about 2 hours together with ham, mortadella and bacon.
  Soak dry bread roll in the milk and then squeeze it very well.
  In a bowl, mix the minced chicken with lean veal, squeezed bread, egg (add a yolk if necessary), a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg.
  Season to taste with salt and pepper (if liked).
  Mix until a compact and homogeneous mixture.
  Place a white, large canvas on the chopping board.
  Put meat mixture on it, shaping in a rectangular form.
  Pat dry chicken breast, ham, mortadella and bacon with kitchen paper and arrange them on your meat mixture.
  Add pistachio nuts (skinned in boilig water) and truffle, sliced.
  Roll all ingredients shaping in a rounded form.
  Wrap galantine tightly in the white canvas, and tie it well at the edges with kitchen string.
  Put galantine in a large casserole.
  Add peeled carrot, onion in which you stuck the cloves, celery, cleaned and washed, a little salt and cover all ingredients with water.
  Bring to a boil, then lower the flame and continue cooking, about an hour.
  Let galantine cool in the casserole.
  Then remove galantine from the canvas.
  Put it on a serving plate, cover it with another serving plate and place a weight on the second plate.
  Let it at room temperature overnight.
  Prepare aspic jelly, pour it into a rectangular pan and put in the fridge.
• - The day after ...
  put galantine in the fridge.

Just before serving

• - Remember to bring galantine to room temperature before serving.
  Serve it sliced with diced jelly as you can see in the photo.

Note

Tips

• - This is a quick version of chicken galantine. If you want to follow the traditional recipe you have to wrap galantine in chicken skin and then in canvas. In this case the recipe needs more time. In fact you have to remove all skin from the chicken with delicacy; it must have no cuts. So ... place the chicken on a chopping board with its chest down. Cut your chicken in the middle of the back with a sharp knife with a straight incision from its neck down to the tail. Then continue discarding its skin without damaging it, tearing off its flesh from all bones, cutting wings and thigh joints to make easier your operation. The secon step is to remove its skin from the flesh totally. Then marinate chicken skin in Marsala with all other ingredients, wrap galantine in it, stitch its edges and wrap in the canvas.
  Remember that chicken skin is fat and so the recipe will have more fat if you use skin too!
• - There are a lot of recipes in Italy about chicken galantine. Someone use other salami such as raw ham, or corned tongue or lard ... If you use raw ham remember to remove its fat and mince it together with chicken breast. Someone use roasted chicken too; this version is easier, isn't it? Someone use white wine instead of Marsala to marinate.
• - Aspic jelly in the photo is green beacause I wanted to create a nice plate for a meal, buffet style and so I colored my jelly.

Menu planning

• - In Italy we use to prepare chicken galantine for Holidays (appetizers) but it's a perfect cold dish for other important occasions.
• - It's ideal for a summer dinner too. Accompany it with boiled vegetables or a seasonal salad.
• - Ideal for a meal, buffet style too.

Healthy eating

• - As chicken galantine is a laborious dish, we Italians usually prepare it only for special occasions. So I calculated calories and fat only for curiosity.
  Obviously it's a high-protein dish!

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Chicken galantine "?

My husband and I usually pair Dolcetto di Dogliani Superiore (a red wine from Piedmont) to chicken galantine. But if I prepare it for a buffet, our choice is dry sparkling wine :))