Trotters braise:

4 boned trotters

2 bones from boned trotters

¼ cup olive oil

1 bulb fennel, quartered

1 carrot, peeled and halved

1stalk celery, halved

1 onion, quartered

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs of thyme

¾ cup white wine

¾ cup veal stock

Trotter filling:

8 oz. chicken breast, ½ inch wide strips

1 egg

3/4 cup cream

4 oz. bacon, diced

~4 oz. However much bits you can pick from the braised trotter bones, chopped

~4 oz. pork parings from trotter bones, ground or chopped finely

½ teaspoon thyme, chopped

1 teaspoon parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

Cognac sauce:

Pork parings from 2 trotters

1 tablespoons oil

2 shallots, sliced

¼ cup cognac

¼ cup dry sherry

1 cup veal stock

1 cup chicken stock

1 teaspoon butter

Dish:

4 boned braised trotters

1 recipe trotter filling

1 recipe cognac sauce

Pearl onions:

~16 each pearl onions, peeled

1 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon butter

Pinch sugar

Salt and pepper

Watercress:

            2 bunches watercress tips

            1 tablespoons white wine vinegar

            2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

            Salt and pepper

Braising the boned trotters:

Preheat oven to 300ºF. In a large braising pan over medium-high heat sauté your fennel, carrots, celery, and onions in the olive oil till lightly colored. Around ten minutes or so. Increase the heat to high and stir vegetables to create a fond..a film of caramelizing bits covering the bottom of the pan….but don’t let it burn. Deglaze with the white wine, scrape the pan to incorporate all the caramelized bits into the deglazing liquid. Add the veal stock, bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a boil. Add the 4 trotter skins palm up and the two bones any which way. Shake the pan to let the trotters get down into the liquid. Cover and braise for four hours. Baste with braising liquid. Braise for two hours longer, basting every ½ hour and watching to make sure the skins don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.  After all this time in the oven they are quite tender so be careful. The skins will likely split around the toe nails but try to keep the rips to a minimum.

Preparing the stuffing:

To prepare the stuffing you will need a food processor, two metal bowls, one filled with ice, a spatula, a sheet of plastic wrap and a pot of simmering water. Gather all your mis en place. This means having the chicken sliced and the bacon diced etc.. Now, trow the chicken in the food processor and process for 20 seconds, add the whole egg and process for 15 seconds more. The chicken should change from a ball that is being battered around the top of the processor to a ring of shiny chicken paste in the bottom of the processor bowl. Create an ice bath by placing the empty metal bowl over the bowl of ice and transfer the chicken from the processor to the icebath. Little by little, incorporate the cream into the chicken. Each addition must be fully incorporated before the next. You are emulsifying cream into the emulsion of the chicken farce. Simply fold in the rest of the stuffing ingredients. Season. Test by poaching a little sausage you have made with a spoonful of  farce wrapped in plastic. Season if necessary.

To fill the trotters, butter an 11” by 11” square of aluminum foil. Place the trotter palm up on the aluminum foil. Clean off any fatty tissue clinging to the inside of the skin. Fill with ¼ of the stuffing. Roll into a tube and twist the ends to tighten the package into a perfectly round shape.

Cognac sauce:

Heat stock pot over high heat. Add the oil and add parings to the very hot oil. Deeply brown the pork with out burning. Defat the pot and add the shallots. Sweat the shallots till colored. Remove the pot from the flame and deglaze the pot with the cognac and the dry sherry. Reduce by half. Add the chicken and veal stocks. Taste. Reduce by half and strain through a chinois into a clean pot. Taste. Reduce to coating consistency. Taste. If the flavor is too intense mount the sauce with the butter to round and soften the edges.

Glazing the pearl onions:

Melt two tablespoons butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and roll around in the pan to coat with butter. Season with salt, pepper and a little sugar. Sauté till lightly colored. Deglaze with chicken stock and leave over a low heat, stirring occasionally till the stock is reduced to a glaze. Test the onions for doneness, they should be tender, if not add a little water and continue cooking.

To finish the dish:

Steam the trotters for 14-15 minutes. Serve with glazed onions,  potato puree, cognac sauce and watercress tips dressed with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.