For the chicken and stock:
1 4½ pound whole chicken
2 medium onions, each studded with a clove
about 2 carrots, chopped
1 Bouquet Garni
salt and pepper
water to cover

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup flour
2½ cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper

Instructions:

In a large soup pot, put the chicken, onions, carrots, and Bouquet Garni. Cover with water. Bring to a simmer and skim. Simmer for about 1½ hours. Remove the chicken and tent while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Slowly stir in the stock and whisk until smooth. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Then, slowly add the cream, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Tasting Notes
This is a basic dish for supper. I had to add a lot of salt and pepper to make this dish flavorful. Poached chicken, as well, doesn’t have much flavor, but the stock it poaches in does. This makes the sauce critical. Next time, I would like to try it with mushrooms.

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $408.23 + $22.96 = $431.19

Butter used so far: 4 pounds, 32 tablespoons
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I’m so glad “Salade des nonnes” came with a translation, because I couldn’t find any information about “nonnes” at all. “Salad of nuns” is what it translates to. In my research, I found this quote:

In one of my cookbooks, I found a recipe for chicken salad with truffles, so I’m going with that, substituting rice for the potatoes in the recipe.

Truffles
I’ve never worked with truffles before, but I was game to give it a go. Truffles (and not the chocolate kind) grow underground at the roots of Oak, Chestnut, Hazel, and Beech trees. The biggest harvests are mostly in the Provence and Perigord regions of France. They are a “gourmet mushroom” with a strong, earthy, pungent taste. Prices can be as high as $2,500 per kg. The one I bought wasn’t that pricey—only $8! For centuries in Europe, female pigs and dogs have been used to help find truffles because some gourmet truffles produce a scent that mimics a male pig sex hormone. Here’s a good article about truffles, if you want to find out more information.

Rice
Rice is such an easy side dish to prepare. To add extra flavor, the onions are sautéed in butter for a bit, then the rice is sautéed until translucent. Steamed with a bouquet garni adds even more flavor to the rice.

Chicken
In this recipe, the chicken is poached in an aromatic broth. Poaching is a low simmer, not a boil. After being immersed in this flavorful broth, the chicken comes out tender and tasty.

Mayonnaise
The trickiest part of this recipe was the mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is an emulsion—a mixture of two substances that don’t want to be together, namely oil and egg yolks. The flavorings of mustard and lemon juice or vinegar try to act as go-betweens to get these two substances to talk to each other. All ingredients should be at room temperature.

I first tried making it after watching this video. I even used my immersion blender, but it came out runny. After starting over, I tried the classic, patient method of adding the oil one drop at a time and whisking until my arm dropped off. This worked.

If the sauce breaks, add a teaspoon of cold water. If this doesn’t work, whisk 1 teaspoon broken mayonnaise into 1 teaspoon mustard to emulsify it. Then add it to the rest of the mayonnaise. If this doesn't work, try Hellman's Mayonnaise!

Recipe: Salade des nonnes (Rice salad with truffled chicken)

Serves 2-3