Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you go
- 5 chicken cutlets (thin-sliced chicken breasts)
- 500 g (1.1 lb) mushrooms (white button or cremini)
- 2 shallots
- A few sprigs parsley, chopped
- 1-2 cartons (250 ml / 1 cup each) soy cream (or another non-dairy cooking cream)
- 1 Tbsp chicken or mushroom bouillon powder (optional)
- Olive oil
- Salt, pepper
Clean the mushrooms and cut them into very small dice (a duxelles). Peel and mince the shallots very finely. Sauté the shallots in olive oil, then add the mushrooms. They cook very quickly; you just need to let them release their water. Season with salt and pepper. Once everything is nicely browned, take the pan off the heat and stir in the chopped parsley. Set aside.
Lay a rectangle of plastic wrap on a cutting board, large enough to roll up the cutlet, place a chicken cutlet on it and pound it flat to get a fairly thin, even cutlet (if you are using whole chicken breasts, it’s best to cut them in half lengthwise to get two thin cutlets). Pounding the cutlets not only tenderizes the chicken but also helps it cook more evenly.
Season the cutlet with salt and pepper, then spoon the mushrooms down the middle along the whole length. Using the plastic wrap, roll the ballotine up tightly and tie a small knot at each end. Wrap it in a second layer of plastic wrap so it’s completely sealed. Repeat with the remaining ballotines. If you have any filling left over, or small chicken trimmings from cutting the cutlets, you’ll add them to the sauce.
Lower the ballotines into a pot of barely simmering water and cook for 15 minutes. Cooking them this way keeps the chicken moist. When they are done, pour off the hot water and refill the pot with cold water to cool them down. Cut off both ends of the plastic wrap and remove it.
At this point, you can choose whether or not to brown them lightly (and very briefly, so they don’t dry out) in a skillet with a little olive oil. Then transfer them to a serving dish.
In a saucepan, pour in one or two cartons of soy cream (depending on how much sauce you want), the chicken or mushroom bouillon powder if using, the remaining mushrooms and the chicken trimmings cut into small pieces. Adjust the seasoning. Once the chicken is cooked through, pour this sauce over the ballotines.
If you want to serve the ballotines sliced, only slice them at the last minute so they stay moist.
Serve the ballotines with steamed potatoes, rice or small pasta.