This recipe from Melinda Burrows, CEC, CCA, Executive Chef of Hickory Hills Country Club, proves banquet chicken doesn’t have to be boring.
Stemming from a desire to surprise and delight banquet guests of Hickory Hills Country Club (Springfield, Mo.), Executive Chef Melinda Burrows, CEC, CCA, developed a dish featuring a chicken mousseline roulade that is framed in three ways by butternut squash.
“Everyone generally expects an airline chicken breast during banquet events, but we wanted to offer something different, unexpected, and more artfully prepared,” says Burrows. “There are a lot of steps to this dish, but each zeroes in on a fundamental cooking technique.”
The dish starts with the chicken mousseline piped into a pounded-out chicken breast that is then rolled, wrapped, poached and seared. The roulade is sliced and plated with a bright beurre blanc and accompanied by butternut squash three ways: roasted, fried and pureed.
“The organic butternut squash we use here at the club comes from a local farmer who is a very good friend,” says Burrows. “When I work with an ingredient grown with as much integrity as the farmer puts into this squash, I feel a responsibility to showcase it in a variety of ways and display the versatility.”
The final dish toes the line between predictability and unpredictability, while underscoring strong purveyor partnerships and fundamental cooking techniques.