Foie Gras with Dried Fruits

Recipe

Step 1

Separate the lobe of foie gras by pulling the two halves apart with your hands. Using the point of a knife, remove the central vein from of the foie gras, which is often Y-shaped, and then remove the other, secondary veins, which are not as thick as the first one.

Halve the lobes horizontally and remove any small veins and nerves that you can see. Do not worry if you end up breaking the lobes into several pieces. Fill a large bowl with cold water and a few ice cubes and put the lobes in it for at least 30 minutes in order to remove all the small blood vessels that they contain.

Step 2

Drain all the pieces of foie gras and empty the bowl. Pit the dates and chop the dried fruits coarsely with a knife. Put them in the large bowl with the drained foie gras. Mix the salt with the pepper, the Cognac and the Port. Pour this mixture into the large bowl. Leave the foie gras and the dried fruits to marinate in a cool place for at least an hour or as long as overnight.

Step 3

The next day, preheat the oven to 95°C.

Drain the pieces of foie gras and place on a very clean oven tray. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Position the tray in the middle of the oven and be careful to stick to the cooking time. Take the tray out of the oven.

Line a terrine with cling film, allowing it to hang over the sides.

Step 4

Using a slotted spoon, pick up the pieces of foie gras and allow them to drain. Put half of the pieces in the terrine, overlapping them and tamping them down as you go. Drain the alcohol from the dried fruits and arrange them over the pieces of foie gras. Cover with the remaining foie gras. Fold over the cling film and place a weight such as a tin of vegetables on the top of the terrine. Put in the refrigerator.

Step 5

Strain the remaining fat on the oven tray to remove any impurities and save in a cool place. The next day: Warm up the duck fat for 1 minute in the microwave oven to make it runny but not too hot. Open up the cling film covering the terrine and pour over the runny fat to a thickness of approx. 2 cm. Put back into the fridge and wait 2 to 5 days.
Remove the foie gras from its mould, take off the cling film and cut into 1 cm thick slices.

 

Serve with some lovely slices of toasted country bread.

♥To be enjoyed with Palmer & Co Grand Terroirs 2015.

Ingredients

• 1 lobe of duck foie gras weighing approx. 600 g
• 7 g of table salt
• 2 g of mixed peppercorns (Sichuan, Sarawak, long pepper, etc.)
• 2 dried figs
• 2 dates
• 2 dried apricots
• 10 cl of Cognac
• 5 cl of Port