Poached Capon in Salsa Verde
I am a little off with my countdown, I just realized. If my limited math skills serve me correctly, 12-5=7 but 25-20=5. Instead of cramming 7 recipes in 5 days, we will continue our journey past Christmas to make the best out of leftovers. And nothing produces better leftovers than the capon my mother unfailingly poached every Christmas. In case you are wondering, a capon is a chicken whose renounces his manhood-possibly not willfully-tobecome larger, fattier, tenderer, juicier and much more flavorful.
I am lucky enough that in San Francisco, I actually get to pick which butcher will do me the honor of purveying the ingredient without which Christmas just isn't Christmas for me, elsewhere in the US capons might not be terribly common, so order it in advance from your specialty butcher.
Cappone bollito con 2 salse
Poached capon with 2 sauces
for the bird
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
2 celery stalks
3 carrots
2 leeks
1 lemon
2 to 3 bay leaves
6 to 8 peppercorns
1/2 cup white wine
1 handful coarse salt
1 capon
for the salsa verde
1 tablespoon capers in salt
1 clove garlic
1 bunch parsley
1 lemon
3 to 4 anchovies fillets
thick slice stale country bread
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
splash of vinegar
for the salsa gialla
1 pinch saffron
3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter
1 pint capon stock
1 egg yolk
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Peel the onion and spike it with the cloves. Peel the celery and carrots. Remove the green leaves from the leeks. Score them along the middle and remove the dirt under cold running water. Cut 2 slices from the lemon.
Fill a pot with water big enough to hold the capon fully submerged. Add the spiked onion, celery, carrots, leeks, lemon slices, bay leaves, peppercorns, wine and salt and bring to a boil.
Turn the heat to a simmer and lower the capon into the water. It will need to poach gently until very tender, for about 1 hour.
While the capon is cooking, make the sauces.
For the salsa verde: rinse the capers off the salt and soak them in hot water.
Pick and wash the parsley leaves, dry them well.
Smash and peel the garlic.
Grate the zest of the lemon and juice it. Drain the anchovy fillets from the oil.
Remove and discard the crust off the bread slice. Tear the remaining soft part in chunks.
Place the parsley, garlic, zest, juice, anchovies and bread chunks in the food processor bowl.
Drain the capers and add them to the food processor.
Lock and start processing while adding oil in a thick stream. Keep the motor running until you have a homogeneous paste.
Transfer to a bowl adjust the balance of salt, vinegar and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
The salsa gialla will need to wait until the capon is almost done as you are using the stock in which it is poaching.
Ladle a pint of capon stock out of the poaching pot and filter through a paper towel.
Crumble the saffron threads in between your thumb and index finger into a small sauce pot and toast it gently for 2 to 2 minutes.
Add the flour and very lightly toast for 2 to 3 minutes, whisking it around constantly.
Add the butter, It will melt with the flour and saffron into a deliciously fragrant, golden roux to which you will add the hot stock in a thin stream, whisking continuously.
Keep whisking until the sauce thickens and emulsifies well.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the yolk and lemon juice.
Adjust salt and pepper and transfer to a cool container right away to avoid curdling the yolk.
When the capon is ready, drain from the stock and cut as you would a chicken.
Arrange in a shallow bowl with a few ladlefuls of the stock on the bottom to keep warm.
Place the capon in the middle of the table with the 2 sauces alongside it.
NOTES
A capon can easily serve 10 to 12 people, for a smaller party, you can use a chicken
The stock is like a chicken's to the Nth power, you will have a lot since the capon is quite large, keep it for a myriad other uses
Keep the vegetables in the stock, we will use them in our Christmas leftover project