This light but flavorful salad makes a perfect side dish for any summer menu.  The black truffle vinaigrette really boosts the flavor of the summer black truffles.  Since summer truffles are only a fraction of the cost of winter black truffles or Alba white truffles, and are considerably milder in flavor and aroma, they can be used in generous amounts.

Ingredients for Salad:

4 oz. haricots verts, blanched until tender but crisp and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

8 cups mixed greens such as arugula, mache, mizuna, frisee

½ cup finely chopped mixed herbs such as cilantro, basil, parsley, tarragon, thyme, chervil (use only a small amount of the stronger herbs such as tarragon or thyme)

6 green onions, sliced thin

4 oz black summer truffles, sliced thin

3 oz provolone cheese, sliced very thin

Ingredients for Black Truffle Vinaigrette:

1 ½ tablespoons Champagne or white wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon minced garlic

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons black truffle oil

1 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions:

For the Black Truffle Vinaigrette, whisk together the first five ingredients in a small bowl.  Continue whisking, while pouring a thin steady stream of black truffle oil and olive oil.

For the Salad, combine haricots verts, greens, herbs and green onions in a large bowl.  Drizzle half the dressing over the greens and mix well ensuring that the greens are well coated with the black truffle vinaigrette.  Add the sliced summer truffles and drizzle the remaining dressing over the truffles.  Toss the salad carefully trying not to break the truffle slices.  Distribute the salad onto four plates and top with thin slices of provolone cheese. Serves 4.

We made this dish a few weeks ago, and the combination of duck legs confit, grilled on the BBQ and this flavorful middle eastern couscous salad was delicious.  This recipe is ideal for entertaining because the salad can be made well ahead of time and the duck legs confit take no time at all to prepare.  If it is not convenient to grill the duck legs confit on the BBQ, just cook them in a pan over the stove, skin/fat side down, until the skin is crisp and the meat is warm.

Recipe: BBQ Duck Legs Confit with Israeli Couscous Salad

Ingredients

4 duck legs confit (confit du canard)

1 cup Israeli couscous

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or lemon infused olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped or sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 baby eggplants (3-4″ in diameter) or 1 large eggplant, cubed

sea salt

juice of one lemon

1 tablespoon tahini

½ cup blanched and shelled fava beans

2 sprigs of mint, leaves cleaned and sliced in thin strips

4 tops of sprigs of mint for garnish

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

fresh ground pepper

Instructions:

Sauté the dry Israeli couscous in about one tablespoon olive oil until slightly golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Add 1 1/4 cups boiling water to the couscous, cover, and cook until water is absorbed.  Rinse in cold water. Set aside.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the onions in a small pan. Cook the onions slowly over medium to low heat until the onions are caramelized.

Meanwhile, In a large frying pan, heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook very slightly (do not brown). Add the cubed eggplant and distribute another tablespoon olive oil over the top of the eggplant, attempting to coat most of the cubes of eggplant with some oil.  Sprinkle salt over eggplant to taste. Cook eggplant until it is soft inside and crispy and slightly browned on the outside. To get the eggplant crispy, more oil may be needed.  Adjust oil as desired. Set aside.

Once the onions and eggplant are done, add them to the Israeli couscous in a large bowl. Add the fava beans. Whisk the lemon juice, tahini, salt and pepper to taste and one tablespoon of olive oil. Pour over the couscous, onion, fava bean and eggplant mixture and mix well. Add the mint and feta and mix to distribute.  Set aside.

When ready to serve the meal, grill the duck legs confit, fat side down, on medium low heat.  Cook until the meat is hot and the skin and fat is crisp and browned.  The duck legs confit can be turned to cook on the side with little fat; however, it’s best to have the fat and skin side down the majority of the time.

Serve the salad slightly warm or at room temperature, with the duck leg confit on the side.  Garnish the salad with a few mint leaves.

Having just returned from a two week trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, with a generous amount of red mole paste, I’ve been experimenting with pairing spicy red mole with foie gras and duck products.  I’m always amazed by the versatility of foie gras, and was pleased to find that foie gras does indeed pair well with mole.

The mole I used was one given to us from some friends; therefore, I do not have the recipe for the mole itself.  A prepared product can be purchased at a grocery store, or the mole can be made by hand.  The one I used was quite spicy with intense flavor.  I thinned it with chicken stock and added nothing else.

Seared Foie Gras with Oaxacan Mole

Ingredients:

1/3 cup spicy red mole paste

Chicken stock (about 1/2 cup)

One bunch of swiss chard, cleaned and chopped, leaving only a small amount of white

Two cloves garlic

Olive oil

8 ounces raw foie gras, sliced in four pieces and sprinkled with salt

One mango, but into small cubes

1 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Fleur de sel

Instructions:

Combine the mango cubes, honey, fleur de sel, and cilantro and set aside.  Add swiss chard to a large pot of salted boiling water and cook for a few minutes.  Drain.  Heat olive oil in a frying pan and cook garlic for a few minutes.  Add drained swiss chard and saute for several minutes until done.  Meanwhile, heat the mole paste and add chicken stock until desired consistency is achieved.  Heat another heavy saute pan on medium high heat and add the foie gras to the hot pan.  Cook foie gras on both sides until golden brown, about 2 – 3 minutes.

To serve, pour a ring of mole on the serving plates, leaving the center of the plate with no sauce.  Place a mound of the sauteed swiss chard in the center of the plates.  Place the seared foie gras slices on top of the chard, and spoon about 1/4 cup of the mango salsa on top of the foie gras.  Enjoy!

Pommes Sarladaise, Sarladais-style potatoes cooked in duck or goose fat with black truffles is one of the most satisfying dishes I have ever had.  This style of cooking potatoes in goose or duck fat is done all over the Perigord region in France and can be found on almost every menu in the town of Sarlat.  Sarlat is a medieval town, known for it’s wonderful market.  The Sarlat market is the place to go to get fresh truffles or foie gras, or any other form of charcuterie.  It’s an amazing display  of  French luxury foods that every connoisseur should experience at least once!

The Market in Sarlat, The Perigord, France

Pommes Sarladaises with Perigord Black Truffles: 
2 lbs. Russet Potatoes
1 large Minced Garlic Clove
5 to 6 Tablespoons Goose or Duck Fat
2 Tablespoons Minced Parsley
Salt and Pepper
1.5 oz. Fresh Black Perigord Truffles cut into matchsticks

Peel and blanch the whole potatoes for about 2 to 3 minutes maximum. Remove and pat dry. If the potatoes are small, cut them in 3/8 inch slices, if they are larger, cut them into 3/4 inch pieces. In a large pan, over high heat, add two tablespoons fat (we used goose fat, but duck is great too). Carefully add the potatoes to the very hot melted fat. Reduce the heat, and stir often (gently) until the potatoes start looking slightly golden or when the fat is gone. Add some salt and two more tablespoons fat and cook until golden light brown. Add the garlic, the chopped parsley and one (or two) tablespoon(s) fat. Stir for a minute, add the truffles, then stir for another minute or so, and add salt and pepper if needed. Voila! Serve with the Truffle Omelette, or with Duck Confit.

I’ve been wanting to try this recipe for Medallions of Ahi Tuna and Seared Foie Gras with Pinot Noir Sauce for quite some time now, and New Year’s Eve was the perfect occasion!  It worked out well, because I was able to do the sauce and the preparation for the potatoes and mushrooms ahead of time, and only  needed  about 30 minutes to complete and serve the dish.  

The stacked presentation was spectacular and most importantly, the flavors and combination of ingredients were absolutely wonderful.  

I followed the recipe almost exactly, and would not change a thing.  The recipe is from “the foie gras bible” titled “Foie Gras, A Passion” by Michael A. Ginor, owner of Hudson Valley Foie Gras.  The book contains almost 100 pages of information about foie gras–history, production methods, and facts, plus 80 recipes, many of which are created by the world’s most renowned chefs including Jacques Pepin, Charlie Trotter, Emeril Lagasse, Alain Ducasse, Thomas Keller and Jean-Louis Palladin.  

If you are a lover of foie gras, and you enjoy cooking, you really must have “Foie Gras, A Passion”.

Ingredients:

Pinot Noir Sauce

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 pound shallots, sliced

4 portobello mushrooms, stems only, chopped (reserve caps for grilling)

3 white peppercorns

3 coriander seeds

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 1/2 cups Pinot Nior

2 cups veal stock

Crispy Potato Cakes

2 large russet potatoes

10 chives, chopped

2 egg whites

2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 tablespoons potato starch

peanut oil for frying

Grilled Mushrooms

1 clove garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

2 teaspoons fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, marjoram and parsley work well)

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

4 portobello mushroom caps (reserved from above)

Coarse salt

Black pepper, freshly ground

Tuna, Foie Gras, and Spinach

1 1/2 pounds sushi-grade ahi tuna, cut into 6 steaks, about 4 oz each

Vegetable oil for grilling

1  foie gras, 1 1/2 pound, cut into 6 cubes, about 4 ounces each

Coarse salt

Black pepper, freshly ground

1/2 pound spinach, cleaned

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pinot Noir Sauce

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the shallots and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes.  Add the mushroom stems and cook until they have released all their liquid, 7 to 10 minutes.  Add the peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaf, and sugar, and continue cooking until caramelized, an additional 3 minutes.  Add the red wine vinegar and reduce until the mixture is dry, about 5 mintues.  Add the Pinot Noir and reduce by three-fourths, about 30 minutes.  Add the veal stock and simmer until the mixture takes on the consistency of a light sauce, about 1 hour.  Strain though a chinois and reserve.  

Crispy Potato Cakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake the potatoes for 30 minutes or until they are barely tender.  Let cool slightly, then peel and grate.  Add the chives, egg whites, salt, and potato starch.  Mold the potatoes into six cakes using a 2-inch-square mold; the cakes should be roughly 3/4 inch thick.  Heat the peanut oil in a large saute pan and fry the potato cakes until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.  Set aside.

Grilled Mushrooms

Combine the garlic, shallot, herbs, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.  Marinate the mushroom caps in this mixture for at least 2 hours.  Remove the mushrooms from the marinade.  Season with salt and pepper, and grill until tender, about 3 or 4 minutes per side.  Dice the grilled mushrooms into 1/2-inch cubes.

Tuna, Foie Gras, and Spinach

Place the potato cakes in a medium-hot oven to heat through.  Brush the tuna with oil.  Season the tuna and the foie gras with salt and pepper.  On a very hot grill, sear the tuna on both sides.  In a hot saute pan, sear the cubed foie gras on all sides until brown.  In another pan, saute the spinach in the olive oil and let drain on a paper towel.  In another saute pan, heat the Pinot Noir sauce and the diced portobello mushrooms.  Place a potato cake in the center of each of six dinner plates with a small pile of sauteed spinach on top of the cake.  On top of the spinach, place one tuna steak and one cubed foie gras steak.  Spoon the Pinot Noir sauce with the chopped mushrooms around the plate.  

Serve with a full bodied red wine.

I was wondering what to do with my beautiful sage green princess pumpkin after both Halloween and Thanksgiving had passed, when I remembered a recipe I saw for Pumpkin Bisque with Foie Gras and White Truffle Oil.  Though I modified the recipe here and there, I was thrilled with the result.  Since I generally do not measure seasoning, and the measurements listed are a guess of what I actually used, you’ll need to adjust to your own taste.  

The recipe was quick and easy to prepare, once the pumpkin was peeled and diced (that was the most time consuming part).  The seared foie gras and truffle oil add a layer of complexity to the soup, though it could be enjoyed without the foie gras or truffle oil.  

Here are the basic ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 leeks, sliced 

3 cloves garlic, smashed

8 cups diced peeled pumpkin (or use another winter squash)

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon thyme leaves

1 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder 

1 teaspoon ground cumin 

6 1/2 cups chicken stock (store bought is fine)

1 14 oz. can coconut milk 

1 tablespoon sea salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

3 tablespoons brandy or cognac 

1 lb foie gras cubes or  8 pieces of flash frozen portioned foie gras 

2 teaspoons White Truffle Oil or Black Truffle Oil

Melt the butter in a medium soup pot.  Add leeks and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes.  Add the diced pumpkin, herbs and spices, salt, pepper and chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, then cover pot and reduce heat to low.  Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender.

Remove the bay leaf.  Add the coconut milk to the soup and puree in a blender.  Return the pureed soup to the pot and add the brandy.  Adjust the seasoning the taste.  Keep warm on stove.

Heat a heavy saute pan on medium high heat.  Season the foie gras with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Sear the foie gras cubes, or foie gras medallions on all sides until brown outside, but just cooked inside (still pink, but not raw).  

To serve, pour the soup into warmed soup bowls, top with a drizzle of truffle oil, then place the foie gras cubes or medallion on the top of the soup.