November 19, 2011

To honor my new life...



as a graduate student in Ithaca and to celebrate the number of food fans in our class, we started a little supper club. It gives us any excuse to feast and drink with friends.

For our first supper club event, we featured foie gras as the central theme of the evening, definitely a ridiculously gluttonous dinner. Too many calories? Who's counting?

The last time I worked with foie gras was at Jean Georges back in 2009, so I was happy to get my hands on those buttery lobes again. Keith, Luke, and I planned a menu of five dishes and ordered our fatty partner from D'artagnan. My personal favorite of the evening--flash fried tempura foie gras with grated daikon, lime zest and togarashi pepper. Full menu follows.

Duck bacon, caramelized yams, duck fat caramel, thyme, shallots

Tempura foie gras, grated daikon, lime zest, togarashi pepper

Fresh foie gras ravioli, brandy duck jus, lovage, carrots

Pan-roasted chicken, parsley-kale puree, fried mushrooms, chicken consomme farro

Tempura Foie Gras

4 oz foie gras, 1 inch cubes
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1 T cornstarch
water
oil for frying
S+P
1/2 cup daikon, grated
1/2 lime, juice + zest
1/2 t togarashi pepper

Freeze cubed foie gras overnight. Mix panko crumbs with cornstarch and water slurry. Heat a small saucepan with oil to cover a cube foie gras. Dip foie gras in panko slurry and fry immediately until crispy but not brown. Strain oil from tempura on a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Combine daikon, lime juice and togarashi pepper and form a bite-sized ball. Serve tempura foie gras with daikon.

Green apple tarte tatin, seared foie gras, arugula pesto

Me + Luke

JJ, Kay, Will, Drew, Jinhan, Keiko, Ling, Luke