Recipe for Alsatian “bouchées à la Reine” with Alsatian pasta

Traditional chicken bouchées à la reine

Alsatian bouchées à la reine take a little time to make, and some versions of the recipe can be “impressive” (like the sweetbread version, for example). That said, there’s a relatively simple and accessible version to make: one with chicken, mushrooms and poultry dumplings. That’s the recipe I’m going to suggest today.

It takes a little time to make, but if you subtract the cooking time for the chicken, the bouchées à la reine are pretty quick to prepare. The filling (a mixture of chicken, mushrooms, dumplings and sauce) reheats very well, so don’t hesitate to prepare it in advance.

Alsatian noodles on the side

Let’s also talk about the accompaniment to this bouchée à la reine. In Alsace, the tradition is to enjoy the bouchées à la reine with a good egg pasta, an Alsatian pasta, like the Valfleuri brand, which looks a bit like Italian tagliatelle.

These “Nüdles” are the perfect pasta to accompany the “bouchées à la reine”: they’ll “catch” the sauce and garnish well, adding extra generosity to the dish (because in Alsace, we’re generous when it comes to cuisine).

Pasta from Alsace is egg-based, so even if the pasta is dry, it’s just as good as fresh pasta! What’s more, they benefit from a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication): their production origin and specificity are guaranteed.

Our recipe

Print Recipe

Alsatian "Bouchées à la Reine" with Alsatian pasta

Recipe for bouchées à la reine with chicken, mushrooms and poultry dumplings

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Cuisine: Alsacienne

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 6 flaky crust bought from the baker (or homemade)
• 400 g of Alsace pasta (e.g. ValFleuri Nüdles N°5)
• 1 chicken (from 1.3 to 1.5 kg)
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 1 bouquet garni
• 150 g chicken quenelles
• 200 g button mushrooms
• 60 g of butter
• 60 g flour
• 25 cl white wine (Riesling)
• 25 cl milk
• 10 cl cream
• Salt, pepper and nutmeg

Instructions

• Cook the whole chicken in a pot with the carrot, onion and bouquet garni in 1 liter of water (or more, as long as your chicken is covered with water).
• Cook for 1h to 1h15 at a gentle simmer. You can use a colander spoon to clean up any impurities that may come to the surface. The chicken is well done when you can see that the meat in the thighs comes away easily from the bones. Remove from heat. Strain the stock through a chinois and leave to cool.
• Pan-fry the quartered mushrooms. They should color slightly.
• To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, then add the flour. As soon as the mixture thickens, add the stock, stir well with a whisk, add the white wine and milk, and reduce the sauce for 10 minutes.
• Bone the chicken, and cut the meat and dumplings into small cubes. Add them to the sauce with the mushrooms.
• Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
• At the last minute, add the cream and reheat without boiling.
• Cook the Alsace pasta for 9 minutes, at a gentle simmer.
• Top the puff pastry shells with this filling and serve the rest alongside with Alsace Nüdles pasta.