The inspiration for this dish got here from a dish we loved on the Librije. Often once I use a restaurant dish for inspiration I don’t attempt to make an actual copy, however attempt to simplify it to get to the essence of the dish with as little effort as doable (80% of the flavour for 20% of the trouble). The dish at Librije was foie gras with gray shrimp, tomato water, and lime. I believed it might be good to make an amuse bouche primarily based on that concept. At first I attempted it with kaffir lime zest, however once I had the identical dish for the second time at Librije, I noticed that kaffir lime leaf could be higher. I’ve stored this dish so simple as doable, and am very proud of the end result. For the perfect taste it’s important to peel the shrimp your self, however that’s fairly a chore and such small shrimp are arduous to search out unpeeled. I think about that outdoors of the Netherlands it could even be troublesome to search out these small gray shrimp in any respect. They’re much extra flavorful than their bigger cousins. However when you can’t discover them, by all means substitute with the smallest shrimp yow will discover. If you’re sticking to my method of plating, it’s possible you’ll find yourself with a fundamental course sized portion although when you make a circle of bigger shrimp.
Kaffir lime leaves might be discovered frozen at Asian markets, however I decide them recent from my kaffir lime bushes.
Sous vide shouldn’t be solely an effective way to cook dinner the foie gras (it was truly initially invented for precisely that function), however it’s also an effective way to infuse oil with the lime leaves.
Components
For 8 servings as an amuse bouche
- 120 grams (4 oz) uncooked foie gras
- 8 kaffir lime leaves (recent or frozen, not dried)
- 750 grams (1.7 lbs) plum tomatoes
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) peeled small gray shrimp
- some Japanese soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp gentle olive oil
- 2 grams (beneficiant 1/4 tsp) desk salt
- 1 gram (1/4 tsp) powdered sugar
- 1/16 tsp delicate chile powder, corresponding to New Mexico or Ancho, non-compulsory
Directions
Begin with the tomato water the day earlier than. Wash and dry 750 grams of tomatoes. Quarter them, and put them in a blender or meals processor.
Mix till fairly clean (however you don’t need to crush the seeds).
Place a sieve on a big bowl and prepare a cheesecloth on prime. Pour the tomato pulp on the cheesecloth.
Remodel the cheesecloth right into a knapsack by taking the 4 corners, and utilizing some string to shut it. Grasp the knapsack above the bowl and permit the tomato water to empty in a single day.
Season the tomato water to style with Japanese soy sauce. Use solely just a little as it’s not presupposed to style like soy sauce; it solely serves to boost the tomato taste.
Vacuum seal 120 grams of uncooked foie gras with nothing else within the bag. Take away the central rib of 8 lime leaves, and slice them into very slim strips (chiffonade). Vacuum seal 2 tablespoons of light-flavored additional virgin olive oil with the lime leaf strips. If you don’t personal a chamber vacuum machine, it’s best to make use of a ziploc bag and the water displacement methodology.
Cook dinner the foie gras sous vide for two hours at 57C/135F and infuse the olive oil with the lime zest on the similar time by putting that bag in the identical water bathtub. The warmth will assist to extract the lime taste out of the leaves. This course of is accelerated by slicing the lime leaves thinly fairly than leaving them entire.
Mix all of the contents of the bag with the sous vide cooked foie gras till clean. Ensure that there is no such thing as a fats left behind within the bag earlier than you begin mixing. Add 2 grams of salt and 1 gram of powdered sugar and mix a bit extra to combine. Chill the pureed foie gras within the fridge for about an hour, stirring each quarter-hour or so to combine the fats that can float on prime again in. Hold chilling till after quarter-hour no extra fats has risen to the floor.
Place the foie gras in spherical silicon molds with a diameter of 4 cm (1.5 inches), after which permit to agency up, lined, within the fridge. This may most likely take not less than 4 hours. The foie gras ought to really feel very agency earlier than you attempt to take it out of the mildew.
Zeef de limoenolie.
Take the foie gras out of the mildew and place one piece on every plate.
Rinse the shrimp with chilly water and pat fry with kitchen paper. Place the shrimp in a bowl and season to style with 1 teaspoon of the lime-infused oil, only a little bit of salt, and 1/16 teaspoon of delicate chile powder. You shouldn’t be capable of style the chile individually, similar to the soy within the tomato water, it serves solely to boost the flavour of the shrimp. Prepare the shrimp on prime of the foie gras as proven within the photograph. Pour the tomato water across the foie gras, and spoon some drops of lime-infused oil across the foie gras. It’s best to convey the plates to the dinner desk first and add the tomato water and oil there, because the dish received’t keep as good when strolling with it. Do all of this rapidly after you’re taking the foie gras out of the fridge, as a result of it should soften because it warms up and can lose its form and will trigger the tomato water to grow to be murky.
Wine pairing
That is nice with an off-dry German Riesling (Spätlese or Auslese) or with a “Dry” (“Sec”) Champagne. The terminology for the dryness of champage might be complicated, as a result of Further Dry sounds very dry, however shouldn’t be as dry as Brut. To work with the foie gras, a “Dry” Champagne with 17 to 33 grams per litre of residual sugar, is the perfect pairing. Champagne types are as follows:
- Brut Nature, 0-3 grams residual sugar per litre
- Further Brut, 0-6 grams
- Brut, 0-12 grams
- Further Sec or Further Dry, 12-17 grams
- Sec or Dry, 17-33 grams
- Demi-Sec, 33-50 grams
- Doux, 50 or extra grams
