Sous Vide Heaven

If you haven’t tried sous vide, you are really missing out. You don’t need expensive equipment to do it, though I covet some for sure. Last year for Christmas I got a vacuum sealer, which, I think, is a real requirement for effective sous vide. You can also buy some home sous vide  cookers that maintain the temperature of the water bath and circulate the water - yes, I’d like one of these but I’m not about to let the lack of one stop me.

So… I made this:



























You’re probably saying “yeah, so what?” but honestly this is one of the best dishes I’ve made. It’s absolutely delectable. Oh, I guess I should start by telling you what it is! It’s chicken leg, stuffed with a spinach mixture that’s been sous vide, smoked and crisped!

Ingredients:
2 skin-on chicken legs (not drumsticks but whole legs)
1 cup packed chopped spinach (I used frozen)
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 finely chopped shallot
1 minced clove garlic
small handful of toasted pine nuts
1 TBS ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp “moo glue”

To make it - start with two skin on chicken legs and bone them, leaving the skin intact.  Remove the fat from under the skin at the edges and any tough sinews.
Salute the garlic and shallots until soft, add the spinach and coriander until soft. Add the cheese and stir until melted and incorporated evenly into the spinach. Add the pine nuts and set aside until completely cool.
When cool, spoon the spinach mixture evenly atop one of the chicken legs making a good sized mound but only in the center - leave enough exposed chicken to wrap halfway up the filling . Sprinkle the moo glue around the edges of the filled chicken and place the other leg atop and overlap the skin onto the other leg to make a log. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then seal in a bag using a vacuum sealer. Chill the log for several hours or overnight.

Now, I don’t have a sous vide machine or circulator so I jury rigged mine using a couple of binder clips, a digital thermometer with an alarm and a pot of water - it isn’t pretty but it works so long as you are vigilant about maintaining the water temperature.



























This part is really tricky without a proper sous vide machine since you cannot insert a meat thermometer either (you would puncture the seal on the bag) I did mine at about 155-160 degrees F for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. You need to gently squeeze the chicken roll to assess doneness. It should lightly spring back. Remove from the bag, drain well and blot dry. Allow it to rest completely and keep blotting the skin - you want it to be thoroughly dry.

Then I hit it with some hickory smoke using a smoking gun, a bowl and some plastic wrap.



























You will get a nice smoky flavor on the skin this way!  Then I brushed the outside with melted butter and crisped the skin in a 400 degree oven, turning frequently to evenly brown it. (I used the convection setting as it browns items very nicely)



























Then simply slice with a very sharp knife or thin serrated blade and serve!



























I had intended to make a sauce using the bones and the liquid from inside the vacuum bag, but the flavors in this were so amazingly tasty, the skin crispy and the chicken moist and tender - that I skipped the sauce!

It takes a while to make this, so you need to plan ahead but it is worth every minute!