Foie gras and gingerbread sandwich with pear chutney and mulled wine reduction

There was uproar a couple of years ago when a certain London department store started selling sandwiches for £85 a pop... featuring ingredients as exclusive as Wagyu beef and foie gras. But this shouldn't surprise us, seeing that anything involving foie gras will always have a train of protesters following. Ethical or not, foie gras is something I do indulge in, please don't hate me for that. I know that being force-fed sounds terrible even to a gourmand and even if the food stuffed down your throat was being made by Joel Robuchon himself... but who is there standing at the doors of every supermarket in the country crying for a ban of battery-laid eggs? Who gets their knickers in a twist over pigs transported thousands of miles across Europe when we have perfectly good British pork we could eat (or in fact, who breaks out in so much as a sweat over all those poor creatures who don't get any EU regulations for the amount of space they get on a rush hour commuter train into London in the stifling summer heat? As if they really had a choice!)?

We don't consume it by the truckload, but I do enjoy a slab of foie gras every once in a while. Even more so when I've bought top quality on the cheap in a duty-free in Luxembourg on the way back from Austria. Sticky wine and brioche are almost a given with goose liver (although I've had some excellent fresh foie gras just with a simple sourdough bread) and I've long wanted to try a Christmassy version of foie gras... a wintery treatment of a gourmet favourite, pressed (half-cooked) foie gras sandwiched in between layers of pain d'épices, the French spice and honey bread which is often called gingerbread in English, but a different breed altogether. Since I had some left over from a packet I received in a EBBP exchange from no other than the talented Marie-Laure of Ô Délices, this was a quick, impromptu starter put together the other night, with some spicy pear chutney I had just made for a friend's birthday (recipe here) and some left-over mulled wine which I used for poached pears with gingerbread icecream (post to follow some day soon, hopefully). For me, this was just the perfect balance, my husband thought there was too much gingerbread and not enough foie gras... if you think the same, just make it an open-faced sandwich, it'll taste brilliant all the same. I think the combination of the pain d'épices with the foie gras really works, as does the mulled wine reduction, which I could have consumed by the spoonful. So if you're looking for a seasonal, unusual, and indulging starter for your Christmas dinner, I think this might be just the ticket!

Foie gras and gingerbread sandwich with pear chutney and mulled wine reduction
(serves 2 as a starter)

4 slices of pain d'epices, no more than 1 cm thick
(To make your own pain d'epices, you can consult the following recipe.)

2 slices bloc de foie gras de canard mi-cuit* (eg Rougié Sarlat)
2 teaspoons of (preferrably home-made) pear chutney

Home-made mulled wine:
750 ml red wine (I used a NZ Pinot Noir)
170 g caster sugar
½ unwaxed orange
½ unwaxed lemon
1 cinnamon stick
10 cloves
1 star anise
2 tbsp caster sugar (for the reduction)

To make the mulled wine, peel the orange and lemon with a vegetable peeler. Discard the lemon, but put the zests and the remaining fruit in a large pot. Add the spices and sugar, then pour over the wine and bring to a simmer. Cook until the sugar has dissolved.
For the reduction, take 100 ml of the mulled wine and pour into a shallow saucepan with the additional sugar. Reduce by half, until you have a sticky sauce (it will thicken even more as it cools).
Use to decorate, about 1 tsp per plate.

... and drink some of the remaining mulled wine with the foie gras sandwich, it makes a nice change from the usual Sauternes or other sticky!

Comments

[Steamy Kitchen]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE foie gras and order it every time at my friend's restaurant. Its such an indulgence that I don't dare try to cook it at home!

[Sanja]

I don't think that it is possible to eat really ethically, so... foie gras now and then...

[Silvia]

This recipe is wonderful!

[Kit]

I need to read this post when I'm hungry. Right now I'm full after our Sunday lunch and it just makes me groan at the thought of such richness! Perfect for cheering the tastebuds in foul November weather in England though!

[Annemarie]

Thanks for singing the plight of us commuters trapped on the underground in the summertime. :) I love foie gras as well, and this sounds like such a wonderful indulgence. Perfect for all those pears about right now, too...

[African Vanielje]

WOW

[Sylvia]

I love foie gras, and I bought too in free shops. I like so much the presentation,gorgeous!!!

[clumsy]

What an interesting dish. I can't really wrap my head around how gingerbread and foie gras would taste like together---but I'm game to try! I'm putting this is my to-do recipe list!! Thanks!

[Jeanne]

I have a couple of tins of foie gras left over from our last foray into France... and I'm thinking this may be how they end up! I am a huge fan of sweet stuff with foie gras, so this sounds perfectly gorgeous.

[Erin]

I have yet to try foie gras. Chicago has actually outlawed the sale of foie gras in any restaurant or store! As if they had nothing better to do.
This will have to be something I try in another place.

[Inne]

That dish looks incredibly delicious Johanna - beautifully presented. I never buy foie gras as my partner doesn't like it at all, but when I see it on the menu in a restaurant I can never resist. Haven't tried it with a pear chutney yet though.

[Martina]

Hi, war gerade in Frankreich und hab 2 ganze Foies Gras mitgebracht. Das inspiriert mich daher umsomehr!! War nett, Dich wieder mal zu treggen, sollten das oefter mal machen!!

[Pille]

Wonderful presentation indeed! I'm also trying to imagine how foie gras & gingerbread go together, but I guess there's really only one way to find out:)

[Susan from Food Blogga]

I personally don't care for foie gras, but I certainly don't hate you for it. Jeffrey Steingarten wrote an interesting essay on foie gras and the process of making it--I believe it's in his book It Must've Been Something I Ate. You might be interested in reading it.

[Tanya]

Wow... that looks *gorgeous*!

[desie the maybahay]

what a wonderful creation.
i can't even remember the last time i had foie gras but i do love it.
i hope to make this someday....

[Tartelette]

Well, I will be the last one to say something as Christmas without Foie Gras is not a holiday for me and I indulge in it a little bit too much when I have the chance...I love the pairing with the pain d'epices, a fig studded brioche works quite well with it too. Beautiful pairing of all the ingredients!