Chicken and Spring Vegetable Aspic

The longest recipe for the easiest assembly

Ok, the recipe seems long but hear me out. This could just as easily be made with bone broth you already have on hand, and the meat from a rotisserie chicken. Ok boom. No excuses to make an aspic now, hah!

This recipe is like the White Yam Spaghetti Pie from 2017. It’s something I’ve wanted to make, it’s been up in my head–just hanging out there like a good dog or friend for quite some time. I finally got the momentum to make it when a friend of mine was utterly horrified to find out that you could make savory Jello.

Welcome to the horror show!

Just think risotto and you’ll be fin–wait, come back!

I think it’s pretty interesting that in our current world of loving up on gelatin, collagen, all things bone broth and the glee that people get when their chilled broths “set” that there’s less desire to enjoy that set up broth! It’s all an aspic is, by the way. A gelled and savory liquid, with bites and treats suspended throughout.

So for this rendition I decided to go for a springtime and light, gentle, kind very of an aspic. Nothing that you wouldn’t find in a find spring risotto, just minus the cream and rice (though, one could riff I suppose).

Thought, and time

What I find lovely in an aspic is the thought that goes into it. As you read the recipe, you’ll see multiple steps, but it’s mostly an assembly line so that come time to put things together, we’ve got all our pieces in place and we’re good to go.

Do you find that calming? I do. It even makes me think about my week, about weeks before and what I’ve done to make them steppable. What do I want final results to be on any given task or action? What are the steps to get there? Can I find peace in those steps, even when the list runs long?

I mean, it’s just an aspic. But if it helps me muse about bigger tasks in my life, then hot damn, serve me another slice, Hazel*!

*Hazel is my dog and I do not let her use knives.

Print

Chicken and Spring Vegetable Aspic

I mean, why not bring back a mid-century classic?

Course Main Course

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Resting Time 3 hours

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 8 people

Author Lucia Hawley

Ingredients

For the Stock

• 1 lb chicken thighs bone-in
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1/2 medium onion peeled
• 1 clove garlic peeled

For the Aspic

• 1 lb asparagus ends chopped off and stalks peeled
• 1/2 head fennel sliced thinly
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons fennel fronds finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 5 tablespoons gelatin I like Great Lakes or Vital Proteins

Instructions

To make the stock

1. Place the chicken thighs in a large pot and cover with water. Bring up to a boil, then remove the chicken thighs from the water and discard the water. Rinse off the thighs and gently scrub the bones—we’re trying to remove impurities from the bones to help make a clearer stock.
2. Place the cleaned thighs back in the same pot and cover with fresh water, at least 6 cups. Add the carrot, onion, celery and garlic, then bring up to a boil and turn down to a simmer and allow to cook gently for 60 minutes.
3. When done, remove the pot from heat, take the chicken thighs out and allow them to cool separately, and discard the carrot, onion, celery and garlic. If you’d like even clearer stock, put the stock into two mason jars and allow to cool in the fridge. Once cooled, remove and discard the fat caps that have risen to the top of the liquid. If you don’t mind a little fat in your aspic, you can skip this step!

Preparing the vegetables

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil with a good pinch of salt in it, then blanch the asparagus for 4 minutes. Remove from the water and immediately transfer to a bowl of water filled with ice to stop the cooking process.
2. Repeat this blanching techniques with the peas and fennel (they can be blanched together), blanching for 2-3 minutes and also transferring to the ice bath.
3. While the vegetables are blanching, shred the chicken thighs off of the bone and discard the bones (or save them for making soups later).

Preparing the aspic

1. To make the aspic set, gently heat up 4 cups of the chicken stock. While those are heating, bloom the gelatin in 2 cups of the cool stock. Once bloomed (takes a few minutes), pour the cool stock with the gelatin into the warming stock and whisk to combine evenly and to gently heat the gelatin throughout. Remove from heat. You'll have 6 cups of stock total.

2. Pour in the lemon juice and sea salt and whisk to combine. You’re now ready to assemble the aspic!

Assembly

1. In a serving dish of your choice (be creative!), start to layer the vegetables, lemon zest, fennel fronds and chicken. I started with a layer of asparagus, lemon zest, peas, fennel fronds, chicken, lemon zest, asparagus and then finished with the fennel, but do what you’d like! This is the fun part!
2. After arranging all the vegetables and chicken, gently pour the lemon-flavored and gelatin-bloomed chicken stock over them. I like to do this with the dish already on a shelf in the fridge so I don’t need to worry about trying to walk around with a dish very full of liquid!
3. After gently pouring in enough liquid to cover and fill to the brim, cover the dish with plastic wrap and allow to set for 12 hours or overnight.
4. When ready to serve, first get some hot water going in the sink, and plug that sink so you get a few inches of a hot water bath ready!
5. Take the aspic out, discard the plastic wrap and allow it to sit for 30 seconds in the hot water—you’re trying to warm the dish briefly so it slips out easily.
6. Get your serving plate ready, then turn the plate upside down to place on top of the dish with the aspic in it. Moment of truth now—swiftly flip the whole thing upside down and unmold it! Woohoo! Nailed it.
7. Slice to serve.