» foie gras

Recipe: Duck Foie Gras Sauteed in Verjus

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:57:40 +0000

This recipe is quite easy to prepare, especially if you have good quality stock on hand. Flash frozen portioned foie gras would work equally well in this recipe allowing you to skip the cleaning and deveining procedure.

Verjus is the juice of unfermented grapes and is used similarly to vinegar. It can be used for salad dressing and sauces, and has the benefit of being less acidic, therefore pairing better with wine.

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

• 1 Duck foie gras, 1.5 lbs
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 1/2 cup white verjus
• 1/2 cup “fond brun” (A rich, brown stock. See recipe below.)
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 lb of peeled white grapes or gooseberries for garnish

Instructions

First devein the foie gras and slice it into 8 – 10 pieces, each piece should be 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick. Sprinkle the foie gras slices with salt, then dust the slices on each side with flour.

Heat a heavy frying pan over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, but not smoking, place the foie gras slices in the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side to obtain a golden color. The fat that renders in the pan can be spooned over the foie gras to assist the cooking process. Do not overcook the foie gras. Ideally, the foie gras will be golden and crispy on the outside and somewhat molten on the inside. Keep the foie gras warm between two heated plates (the foie gras will cook a little more while it is resting).

Heat the rendered fat from the foie gras itself (you may want to only use a portion of the fat), pour in the verjus, scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon and cook until it is reduced by half. Pour in the “fond brun” and let it cook for another 1 or 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place 2 slices on each plate, pour the sauce on top of the slices and garnish with the grapes or gooseberries. Serve immediately.

Fond Brun Recipe

First, roast about 3 pounds of beef or veal bones in oven at 450° for 40 minutes. Halfway through the cooking time add 1 onion cut into 4 pieces, 2 sliced carrots and a sliced celery branch.

Pour the mixture in a clean sauce pan. Add 8 pints of water, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, 1 bouquet garni and 6 pepper corns. Let it simmer for 3 to 4 hours, skimming often.

Strain the mixture many times, while pressing the mixture in order to retrieve the juice and refrigerate. Remove the solid oil from the top.

This makes 4 pints of fond brun.

Oaxacan Red Mole and Foie Gras

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:08:17 +0000

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!

Highlights from San Francisco NASFT Fancy Food Show

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:13 +0000

I’ve been attending the NASFT Fancy Food Show since I was a child. My great Uncle was in the candy business (we called it the candy show back then) and always got my family in for a day of total indulgence!

Now, we attend the Fancy Food Show with a different agenda. Though I always enjoy checking out all the new products in every category, my focus is finding new products to offer our clients.

Many of the wonderful products shown at the Fancy Food Show don’t really fit our product line of luxury and French foods; however, there were a few worth considering.

More Than Gourmet offers high quality stock and demi-glace that assists chefs and home cooks in making delicious sauces. Stocks are available in veal, venison, lamb, chicken, turkey, duck, seafood, vegetable and mushroom. Though I frequently make my own stock (even those that take 48 hours), there are times when it would be so convenient to be able to start my sauce with a high quality, ready-made stock that only needs to be reconstituted. From there, I can add my shallots, garlic, wine, or whatever, to make the final sauce. We are waiting for samples, to make sure we like the taste and quality of the stocks and demi-glace, but we are hopeful about this product line!

One of the most innovative products we tasted at the show was a line of savory macaroons. The macaroons were in three flavors, goat cheese, black truffle, and porcini mushroom. These scrumpti0us morsels are not yet on the market, and we hope to be the first to carry them.

Some additional products we might introduce to our line include escargot, marron glace (candied chestnuts), truffle honey, and French chocolate. We’d love to hear from you if you have other ideas or requests!

Somewhat surprisingly, there were no producers of top quality caviar at the show. There were several “affordable” alternatives, but nothing that we thought measured up to the two brands we currently carry, Tsar Nicoulai Caviar and Black River Caviar.

There were more booths than I remember seeing in past years marketing fresh truffle mushrooms and truffle products. Since white truffles are no longer in season, and black truffles are at the height of their season, there were several companies with a basket full of beautiful, fragrant black truffles from the Perigord in France. There were also truffle producers from Oregon and other regions (Oregon truffles are not the same species as Perigord truffles). Though North Carolina has a growing number of farms cultivated the Perigord variety of black truffles, there were no producers at the show from this region.

There were only three or four producers featuring foie gras or foie gras products, most of which we already carry on our site. Notably, Hudson Valley Foie Gras was at the show (they don’t usually exhibit at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, only in New York), serving up fresh seared foie gras, foie gras torchon, duck proscuitto and magret de canard. They were clearly there to not only sample their wonderful products, but also to reach out to the food community regarding the pending legislation in California, banning the sale of foie gras in the state, beginning in July 2012.

One of Hudson Valley Foie Gras’ founders, Izzy, was there collecting signatures from those who wanted to help keep Hudson Valley Foie Gras available in California. Hudson Valley Foie Gras raises their ducks free range, and hand feeds the ducks when it’s time for gavage. The company believes they should be excluded from the ban, based on the measures they have taken to keep the birds healthy, comfortable and stress free.

A general observation about the 2010 San Francisco Fancy Food Show was the large number of gluten free foods being offered. I don’t remember ever seeing so many foods marketed as being gluten free, but this year they were everywhere! As always, there were a host of olive oils, dressings, salsas, chocolate and candy and of course cheese.

We thoroughly enjoyed the show as we always do, and hope to soon be featuring some of the newly found French food and luxury products on our website.

Recipe: Medallions of Ahi Tuna and Seared Foie Gras with Pinot Noir Sauce

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:59:26 +0000

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.

Recipe: Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Foie Gras and White Truffle Oil

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:32:57 +0000

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.

Rougie duck foie gras is convenient and delicious

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:05:35 +0000

http://www.enjoyfoiegras.com/products/foie-gras.html Learn about Rougie duck foie gras, a convenient way to always have foie gras on hand.

Rougie canned foie gras is shelf stable and can last for years in a cool cabinet. This product is great to have on hand.

How to devein a lobe of foie gras in 5 minutes or less – Part 1

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:34:15 +0000

http://www.enjoyfoiegras.com/products/foie-gras.html Deveining a lobe of fresh foie gras is easy and can be done in less than 5 minutes.

This video shows you step by step how to separate the two lobes, remove the veins and clean the foie gras. Some people are nervous about working with fresh raw foie gras, but the process of devening foie gras is really very easy.

How to cure a partial lobe of fresh foie gras in kosher salt

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:06:54 +0000

http://www.enjoyfoiegras.com/products/foie-gras.html How to cure a lobe of duck or goose foie gras in kosher salt.

This is a great way to prepare foie gras, because it is very easy, requires only foie gras and kosher salt, and produces a high yield product (no loss of yield while cooking, because this preparation does not use any heat).

The finished product is similar to a terrine or torchon style product. You’ll love it!

How to choose the right foie gras product: terrine, block, torchon, pate

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:55:22 +0000

http://www.enjoyfoiegras.com/products/foie-gras.html Learn the differences between several prepared foie gras products: foie gras terrine, foie gras torchon style, block of foie gras, pate de foie gras, or whole foie gras in a jar.

Emulsified foie gras: Pate de foie gras mousse
Partially emulsified, 30% large pieces of foie gras: Foie gras bloc (foie gras block or block of foie gras)
Whole foie gras prepared (the most premium foie gras products): Terrine, torchon style, whole foie gras in a jar

How to devein a lobe of foie gras in 5 minutes or less – Part 2

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:53:52 +0000

http://www.enjoyfoiegras.com/products/foie-gras.html Deveining a lobe of fresh foie gras is easy and can be done in less than 5 minutes.

This is the second part of the video that shows you step by step how to separate the two lobes, remove the veins and clean the foie gras. Some people are nervous about working with fresh raw foie gras, but the process of devening foie gras is really very easy.

Once the foie gras is deveined and cleaned, the two lobes can be reassembled, pressed back together, wrapped in plastic wrap, then chilled in the refrigerator.