Foie-Gras ‘Burger’ with Candied Kumquats & Frisee with Pistachio Vinaigrette
A foie-gras burger!? What was i thinking? I feel the urge to apologize but really… it was the duck’s fault! A lonely slice of fresh duck foie gras was leftover from a dinner party and i had a little too much time on my hands and i was hungry.. and… and it just happened for chrissake!
This post is more a tutorial on how to eat this little sucker than a recipe, it’s so simple anyway. Let’s start the festivities with a buttery and slightly sweet baby brioche toasted in clarified butter on the cut side, that’s our burger bun. A slice of foie gras is criss-crossed and seasoned with salt and a couple of grinds of black pepper and seared on both sides in a hot pan until it forms a crust. When the fire alarm goes off, it’s generally overcooked.
Our ‘burger’ is then ready to go onto the bun with a sprinkle of sel de guerande. I like cheese on my burgers but in this case the ‘cheese’ is some tangy and sweet candied kumquats to cut through the richness of the foie-gras. Everybody say: mmmmmm!
I know you’re about to ask for some ketchup to go with your burger, don’t you always do? Pomegranate molasses does the trick here, just a touch of this delicious middle eastern specialty with a tart-sweet flavor will bring any foie-gras dish to new heights. How high you asked?.. err.. shit, i’m not good at this..err.. (x+17)2=x2+2x+42.. umm.. Very high!
Did you eat your green vegetable today? I went for a frisee salad on the side but since we’re going over the top i dressed it up with a rich pistachio vinaigrette – a puree of pistachios with a touch of lemon and sherry vinegar and emulsified with pistachio oil and some whole pi-stachio nuts too just because it starts like pi-ckle. I didn’t use any notorious P.I.G on this one but the idea of grilling a thin piece of pancetta to turn this into a bacon-cheeseburger did cross my mind…
