One of the recipes that has very much intrigued me since I first looked through Happy in the Kitchen is the Faux Gras, which Michel Richard claims tastes ridiculously similar to foie gras. It definitely does have a very foie quality to it, and even if you don't believe that you should believe that it is the most elegant chicken liver pâté you will ever taste...
Dishes this whimsical, delicious, and creative are pretty much the norm in Michel Richard's kick-ass book...
The recipe is pretty straightforward. You start with onion, garlic, copious amounts of (Amish) butter, chicken livers, and cream (which isn't pictured... I knew this was looking a little too healthy when I took that picture...)
A couple tablespoons of butter are melted, and the onions are cooked gently until they're translucent...
The clove of garlic is grated in with a fine microplane, then the cream is added and the mixture is gently cooked for another 5-7 minutes.
The rest of the butter is stirred in off the heat, with a tiny bit of additional heat added as necessary to melt all of that (Amish) butter. This goes into a blender along with the chicken livers and some salt and pepper, and everything is puréed until smooth...
That may look a little gross to people who don't love liver... and so will this next shot, where the mixture is passed through a fine strainer...
The mixture is poured into ramekins...
... covered in foil, and then placed in a 300°F oven in a pan with boiling water added to half-way up the sides of the ramekins...
After the faux gras is cooked, it is cooled to room temperature, then chilled in the fridge for a few hours. When it is thoroughly chilled, you can start on the (totally optional) cucumber gelée. This is made from cucumber, parsley, gelatin, and a little lemon juice (plus a couple drops of Sriracha, substituted for Tobasco sauce, which I cannot use due to intense hatred of it...)
The cucumber is tossed into a food processor and puréed until liquid...
... then passed through a fine mesh strainer to get about a half cup of cucumber water. (That 33-cent strainer I bought a few years ago is totally giving me my money's worth, by the way... I use it in almost every fancy-pants recipe, it seems...)
The gelatin is added to half of the cucumber water and then microwaved to melt the gelatin (which only takes about 15 seconds). The remaining cucumber water, the lemon, and the Sriracha are added along with a little salt, then finely minced parsley is stirred in. A couple tablespoons of the gelée are then spooned over the top of the chilled faux gras.
Pretty, no?
Chill for about another hour, and you're done. Just remove from the fridge 30-45 minutes before you're ready to serve... I was quite pleased that my dish looked so similar to what's in Chef Richard's book...
But what about that foie taste? The day I made it I wasn't convinced, but I had some with lunch today and am much more impressed. There is definitely a foie flavor to this, and it is by far the most elegant chicken liver pâté that you could possibly make.
I will still sometimes want a more rustic pâté, but this will be my go-to recipe when I want to impress people. I become an even bigger fan of Michel Richard every time I use Happy in the Kitchen.... Can't wait to try the next awesome thing...
Dishes this whimsical, delicious, and creative are pretty much the norm in Michel Richard's kick-ass book...
The recipe is pretty straightforward. You start with onion, garlic, copious amounts of (Amish) butter, chicken livers, and cream (which isn't pictured... I knew this was looking a little too healthy when I took that picture...)
A couple tablespoons of butter are melted, and the onions are cooked gently until they're translucent...
The clove of garlic is grated in with a fine microplane, then the cream is added and the mixture is gently cooked for another 5-7 minutes.
The rest of the butter is stirred in off the heat, with a tiny bit of additional heat added as necessary to melt all of that (Amish) butter. This goes into a blender along with the chicken livers and some salt and pepper, and everything is puréed until smooth...
That may look a little gross to people who don't love liver... and so will this next shot, where the mixture is passed through a fine strainer...
The mixture is poured into ramekins...
... covered in foil, and then placed in a 300°F oven in a pan with boiling water added to half-way up the sides of the ramekins...
After the faux gras is cooked, it is cooled to room temperature, then chilled in the fridge for a few hours. When it is thoroughly chilled, you can start on the (totally optional) cucumber gelée. This is made from cucumber, parsley, gelatin, and a little lemon juice (plus a couple drops of Sriracha, substituted for Tobasco sauce, which I cannot use due to intense hatred of it...)
The cucumber is tossed into a food processor and puréed until liquid...
... then passed through a fine mesh strainer to get about a half cup of cucumber water. (That 33-cent strainer I bought a few years ago is totally giving me my money's worth, by the way... I use it in almost every fancy-pants recipe, it seems...)
The gelatin is added to half of the cucumber water and then microwaved to melt the gelatin (which only takes about 15 seconds). The remaining cucumber water, the lemon, and the Sriracha are added along with a little salt, then finely minced parsley is stirred in. A couple tablespoons of the gelée are then spooned over the top of the chilled faux gras.
Pretty, no?
Chill for about another hour, and you're done. Just remove from the fridge 30-45 minutes before you're ready to serve... I was quite pleased that my dish looked so similar to what's in Chef Richard's book...
But what about that foie taste? The day I made it I wasn't convinced, but I had some with lunch today and am much more impressed. There is definitely a foie flavor to this, and it is by far the most elegant chicken liver pâté that you could possibly make.
I will still sometimes want a more rustic pâté, but this will be my go-to recipe when I want to impress people. I become an even bigger fan of Michel Richard every time I use Happy in the Kitchen.... Can't wait to try the next awesome thing...
No comments:
Post a Comment