Chicken Salad Tartlets

Method

1. 01

   Step 1: Poach the chicken

   Cover the breast with cold salted water, bring it just to the boil, then drop the heat until the surface barely trembles. 12–15 minutes, depending on thickness.

2. 02

   Step 2: Cool it in the liquid

   Take the pan off the heat and let the chicken cool in its own broth. It draws juice back in — that is what keeps it from drying out.

3. 03

   Step 3: Dice, don't shred

   Cut the chicken into 5 mm dice and the celery finer still. Shredded meat clumps in the filling; neat dice keeps the salad loose.

4. 04

   Step 4: Toast the walnuts

   Three minutes in a dry pan until they smell nutty, then cool and chop coarsely. Raw walnuts all but disappear in a creamy filling.

5. 05

   Step 5: Mix the dressing

   Sour cream, mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Keep it thick — a loose dressing runs straight through the base of the shell.

6. 06

   Step 6: Chill the filling

   Fold the chicken, celery and walnuts through the dressing and refrigerate for an hour. Cold filling is thicker and does not steam the pastry.

7. 07

   Step 7: Fill at the last minute

   Spoon it into the shells no more than 20 minutes before serving, heaped slightly. Finish with rings of spring onion.