Foie Gras Salad

Last night I wanted to make a nice appetizer for a french meal, something that would not take up much time but still be really classy. So I made a foie gras salad.

In the south-west of France the people make hearty salads that can be served as courses in and of themselves. I had bought some smoked cured duck breast (from Birkelundens Lille Ostebutikk), which is nicely served in a salad, so I improvised from there.

You start with lettuce, of course, and I like to have two kinds for variation. In this case, Red Lollo and Romano. Then as it is fall I found some nice crunchy fennel, and blanched haricots verts and the stems of a kind of dark green leafy plant whose name alludes me for the moment. (I got it at a farmers market, kind of an endive-type plant, but a good substitue would be baby asparagus.) This give the salad body. Add the cured duck breast, and a handful of walnuts.

Then the dressing: walnut oil and raspberry vinegar make a fantastic dressing for duck breast, the nuttiness and sharp sweet raspberry taste setting each other off. I added also some chopped garlic and parsley (a classic Southwestern French flavoring) and a dash of mustard.

Mix the salad well, then serve it in nice portions on plates. The foie gras goes on last, so it is prominently displayed. Thinly shave off some foie gras slices (make sure it's cold so it can be easily sliced). Arrange the shavings nicely and generously on the salad.

You can vary this recipe a lot. The essentials are: lettuce, some other vegetable for texture, walnuts, cured duck / foie gras (preserved goose or duck gizzards can also be used), and a nice dressing, preferably with garlic and walnut oil.

The magic bit is when the sweet rich taste of the foie gras offsets the earthy vegetables and the sharpness in the dressing. Magic!