Simple ingredients assembled innovatively can make a delectable meal. This composed Chicken Salad with Spinach, Fennel, Buckwheat and Purple Cabbage Mousse is my adaptation of a salad I enjoyed at lunch several weeks ago in Kyiv, Ukraine. The menu simply said Chicken, oven baked with sweet cabbage, violet mousse and grains.
When the dish arrived, I was surprised by its bright, springy appearance – chicken thigh morsels resting on a mound of spinach with a few spoons of cooked grains resembling buckwheat peeking out at two ends from under the spinach but with an intriguing purple stripe down the center. At first, I was reluctant to disturb this beautiful arrangement, but I savored every layer, identifying and noting flavors of each. This was a salad of first-class ingredients with each element so carefully prepared.
It was a surprisingly tasty combination of simple elements, a creation of Chef Evgeniy Klopotenko at his innovative restaurant Sto Rokiv Tomy Vpered. which translates as “100 years Back to the Future.” Klopotenko eschews post-Soviet Ukrainian cooking. He serves traditional Ukrainian dishes –borshch (beet vegetable soup) and varenyky (filled dumplings) — only to patrons who can order in English because he wants to re-educate the Ukrainian palate, luring Ukrainian guests away from the familiar recipes they prepare at home into trying classic recipes deconstructed into their component ingredients or new recipes using familiar ingredients in innovative ways.
As I studied Klopotenko’s salad, I realized his salad of simple elements is transformed from simple to sublime by the violet mousse that tasted like a super smooth homemade mayonnaise with a salty and spicy flavor that I could not place. What could it be? There are only a few purple vegetables or fruits that produce this lovely purple color. I recognized it surely was not beets, a staple of Ukrainian cooking, as the color was too purple. It was not blueberries because it was too early in the season and the mousse was not sweet. By a process of elimination, I decided it had to be purple cabbage, the only naturally occurring purple food coloring and which Klopotenko’s staff later confirmed without disclosing recipe details.
I replicated this unique chicken salad with a few improvisations and created this Chicken Salad with Spinach, Fennel, Buckwheat with Purple Cabbage Mousse.
I made some substitutions in Klopotenko’s recipe. I grilled rather than baked the chicken thighs. I substituted fresh fennel for the green cabbage base. I used buckwheat groats for the unspecified grain and my standard recipe for the lemon vinaigrette.
The purple cabbage mousse, the only “cheffy” component of this Chicken Salad with Spinach, Fennel, Buckwheat and Purple Cabbage Mousse, required some experimentation achieve the right taste and texture. Cabbage-haters among you probably can’t imagine why anyone would want to add purple cabbage flavor to a savory mousse. But trust me, purple cabbage tastes distinctly different from green cabbage, and a few teaspoons of creamy purple cabbage mousse makes a world of difference in this final salad.
I learned from brief internet research that purple cabbage (botanical name Brassica oleracea or B. oleracea var. capitata F. rubra) has a bold, vegetal taste and peppery flavor due to the anthocyanin pigments that produce its purple color. According to my research, the anthocyanin in purple cabbage is purplest when the pH is at a neutral 7, but becomes progressively redder (from 6 to 1 on the pH scale) when mixed with an acidic substance or becomes bluer (from 8 to 14 on the pH scale) when mixed with an alkaline substance. So, finding a suitable mousse base that stays closest to the purple color of the cabbage juice presented a challenge.
Since Klopotenko’s violet mousse was silky, I realized that purple cabbage juice had to be extracted for use as mousse flavoring and colorant. The extraction was easy. I shredded and froze the purple cabbage leaves.
When thawed, I was able to squeeze out the juice. Purple cabbage juice becomes slightly sweeter and more concentrated after freezing.
I don’t know how Klopotenko made his violet mousse. By trial and error, I discovered that adding the purple cabbage juice to mayonnaise did not work because mayonnaise is acidic (pH 4.0-4.7) and produced a red-hued mousse. I experimented with acid-less aioli recipes, but although an egg yolk is close to neutral (pH 7), the yellowness of the yolk colored with the purple extract gave the mousse a greenish tinge. Finally, I converted a sweet mousse recipe of heavy cream (pH 6.9) and gelatin to savory, and found the taste and purple color close to the original.
This purple mousse is super simple to prepare, and it raises this simple chicken salad to new heights. Of course, you can substitute the purple cabbage mouse with a good quality mayonnaise, with or without the purple cabbage extract. The salad would be delicious, but not the same.
This composed salad is made of ingredients prepared separately but assembled on a plate for serving. Three elements of this salad (buckwheat, lemon vinaigrette and part of the purple cabbage mousse) can be prepared in whole or in part a day ahead. The remaining ingredients (chicken, spinach, fennel and final mousse) are best prepared on the day of service. Although this Chicken Salad with Spinach, Fennel, Buckwheat with Purple Cabbage Mousse looks the same as Klopotenko’s creation, I think my changes make a delicious spring salad superb.
Chicken Salad with Spinach, Fennel, Buckwheat and Purple Cabbage Mousse
For chicken salad:
4 chicken thighs, boneless
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
2 large fennel bulbs, fronds removed and cut into 1-inch squares
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
6 cups baby spinach leaves, washed and dried
For lemon vinaigrette:
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
For buckwheat:
½ cup buckwheat groats
2 cups boiling water
Pinch of salt
For purple cabbage mousse:
7 ounces (200 g) purple cabbage, coarsely shredded
½ teaspoon gelatin powder|
½ teaspoon garlic juice
½ teaspoon sea salt, or more to taste
Pinch of cayenne
½ cup heavy whipping cream
Preparing lemon vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, mustard, and fine sea salt until sugar and salt are dissolved. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly until the dressing is well blended. Season with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. If desired, whisk in the remaining oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly. This vinaigrette can be prepared ahead and refrigerated, in an airtight container, up to 3 days.
Preparing buckwheat: Combine buckwheat groats and water in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 5 minutes. Then cook for 4 minutes at high power. Buckwheat should be al dente. Remove, drain and cool. Buckwheat can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container.
Preparing purple cabbage mousse: Place shredded purple cabbage in a plastic bag and freeze for two hours or overnight. Thaw cabbage. (It will be soft and juicy.) Place in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze the concentrated purple juice (about ¼ cup) into a microwave-safe bowl.
Boil juice in microwave 30 seconds at a time until the juice is reduced to a few teaspoons. Cool to room temperature. Stir in gelatin powder and set aside for 5 minutes. Again, heat juice in the microwave for 1 minute, stirring and checking if gelatin dissolved. Continue microwaving 10 seconds at a time until dissolved. Stir in salt and cayenne and cool to room temperature.
In a small tall bowl, whip cream into peaks. Stir in a few teaspoons of juice-gelatin mixture into the whipped cream to obtain medium violet color. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Preparing fennel: Melt 1 tablespoon butter in sauté pan. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Heat butter-oil mixture on medium heat. Add fennel and sauté until lightly browned, but still firm. Remove from heat to a bowl. Cool to room temperature.
Preparing chicken: Heat grill pan on the stove until hot. Coat both sides of chicken thighs with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Salt and pepper chicken thighs on both sides. Reduce heat to medium and grill for 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove and cool to room temperature.
Grilled chicken and sautéed fennel
Assembling salad: Divide fennel and arrange down the middle of 4 plates. Place two tablespoons of buckwheat at each end of the fennel. Drizzle each serving with two tablespoons of lemon vinaigrette. Cover fennel and buckwheat with a layer of spinach leaves. Sliced grilled chicken thighs into ½ strips. Divide evenly and arrange down the center of the spinach. Place mousse into a piping bag with a round tip or into a sandwich-size Ziploc bag, cutting a tiny amount off one corner to create an opening. Pipe a stripe of purple cabbage mousse over the chicken. Serve immediately.
Serves 4.
One year ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/greek-rag-pie-patsavouropita/
Two years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/silk-road-lamb-dried-fruit-plov/
Three years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/asparagus-soup-la-cozinha-velha/
Four years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/memorial-day-picnic-a-la-reuben/