[Intro music]
A translation of foie gras is literally fat liver.
The name said it all.
Besides serving it as a terrain, foie gras can also be pan-seared.
Today we are going to cook it with grapes and the port wine reduction.
To create this mouth watering dish, you will need
flour, sugar, butter, seedless green grapes,
bay leaf, thyme, vegetable oil, red wine vinegar,
foie gras, port wine, red wine, veal stock,
salt, pepper and curly endive.
Start by making the sauce.
In a sauce pan, place the sugar, add about 1/8 cup of water.
Turn the heat on, on high and caramelise the sugar.
The secret of the caramel is to not stir,
don’t get the spatula and stir the caramel
because you will cool it down and that’s terrible.
So, let it cook. You may stir once like this, but that’s it.
The caramel is starting to colour, so keep an eye on it.
You want to have a nice golden brown colour.
Caramel has a flavour, it’s sweet and bitter.
So now I am going to deglaze with the port wine.
Reduce the port wine by half.
When the port wine has reduced by half, then add the red wine.
And reduce the liquid by half again.
Then add the veal stock, the bay leaf and the thyme sprig.
Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce again by half.
Make the dressing. Place some salt and pepper in a bowl.
Add the red wine vinegar.
Whisk and add the oil and reserve the vinegar.
Slice the foie gras. For this dish today, we need only 2 slices.
As I intend to use the rest to make a terraine.
Cut the slices diagonally.
So the red here is the blood vessel from the liver, so that’s normal.
Place the slices on a plate. And reserve the rest.
Season the slices with salt and pepper on both sides.
The sauce has well reduced. Let’s have a look.
You see, its coating the back of the spoon nicely.
So now, remove the bay leaf and the thyme.
And add the grapes.
Leave the sauce on low heat and cook the foie gras.
In a dry, clean pan; foie gras is very rich in fats
so we do not need to start with vegetable oil or butter to sauté the foie gras.
Add the flour over the foie gras.
Drench the foie gras into the flour on both sides.
Heat your pan on medium high heat without any fat in the pan.
Then when the pan is very hot, add the foie gras,
but first tap the foie gras to remove any excess of flour.
You can see the fat melting down.
Remember I told you- foie gras means fat liver, now look at the pan.
You understand now, why?
Then remove the slices and place them on absorbent paper
to absorb the excess of fat and finish the sauce.
If your sauce has reduced too much,
and you think it’s a bit too thick,
then add a dash of water to extend it.
Bring the sauce to a boil.
Then leave it on low heat and melt the butter.
So you want to incorporate the butter.
You don’t want to leave the butter just melting down
because the fat will float on top of the sauce.
So you want to incorporate it into the sauce.
When you melt the sauce with butter,
and it’s a last step in sauce making,
it allows to make the sauce more shiny.
It thickens the sauce and also it cuts off
the little acidity from the sauce from the wine reduction.
So it makes the taste smooth in the mouth and pleasant.
Then serve the foie gras. Let’s take everything to the table.
Season the salad. Break larger leaves into bite size.
Curly endives will bring bitterness to the dish.
So it will balance the sweetness of the sauce and the fat of the liver.
So it will be a good balance. Toss the salad.
And garnish your plate. I like to use my fingers for that.
Get a little bit of volume. Then add the sauce.
About 5 grapes per person.
And add the foie gras.
Garnish with fresh herbs. So I am going to be using some chive.
Cut it diagonally and add it over the foie gras.
Serve the foie gras immediately. And enjoy!
Pan seared foie gras with port wine and green grapes. Bon appétit!