A celebratory dish, even a Christmas one, that brings together two treasures of the cold season, one from the sea and the other from the earth - the wild oyster and foie gras. Did you know that the wild oyster is called "the truffle of the sea"? Here its qualities are brought out by a pairing with precious fresh foie gras, poached in a bouillon in which the spices play on the gifts brought by the Three Kings. More than ever, the wild oyster merits its nickname and should be eaten with a certain ceremony.
Serves 4
Ingredients
16 flat wild oysters, no. 0 (or, better, Caravane) - 180 g fresh duck foie gras (7 oz) - 1/2 cereriac - 4 small carrots, with their tops - 4 leaves of celery or wild celery - 2 dl wine (Saint-Croix du Mont or Coteaux du Layon) (3/4 cup) - 5 cl verjuice, the juice of grapes that don't ripen in Brittany (1/4 cup) - 4 dl chicken stock (1 1/2 cups) - 5 ml soy sauce (1 tsp) - 2 drops sesame oil - Spice mix: 10 ml coriander (2 tsp), 3 white peppercorns, 5 ml green fennel (1 tsp), 15 ml mace (1 tbsp) - A knob of butter
To be made in several stages - meticulous but easy.
Basic preparation
The night before, heat the spice mix ingredients in a dry saute pan. Grind in a coffee grinder, set aside in an airtight jar. Boil the wine to reduce it by half.
Add the chicken stock to the wine and add 5 ml (1 tsp) of the spice mix and two branches of celery, the soy sauce and verjuice.
Let this infuse for an hour at 80 C (190 F), then strain through a fine strainer. Set the infusion aside in a cool place without moving it.
The heavy part sinks, the light rises. After a night in the fridge, discard the top part of the infusion and keep only the liquid in the middle, pouring it off carefully, to obtain a clear bouillon. Leave the cloudy part at the bottom. The best method would be to use a gravy syringe.
Realisation
Open the oysters and shell them by removing the oyster from its base, being careful not to pierce the air pocket in the lower shell.
Set them aside in their own liquid, which you have filtered through a fine strainer.
Peel the carrots and cut them very thinly lengthwise to obtain thin orange and green strips.
Cut the celeriac into squares as thin as the carrot slices.
Cut the celery leaves into thin strips.
Set these vegetables aside separately, on a piece of moist paper towel.
Cut the foie gras lobe into 12 pieces, after having removed the large veins.
Last minute
Cook the carrots and the celeriac separately in a little salted water with a knob of butter.
Heat the clear bouillon to 85 C (200 F) and poach the liver for 2 mins.
Warm the oysters in their filtered water, to a temperature of less than 70 C (170 F).
Place in each soup dish 4 oysters, 3 pieces of foie gras, strips of carrot and celeriac.
Adjust the seasoning of the bouillon with a little oyster juice.
Add a few drops of sesame oil.
Add the boiling bouillon. Sprinkle with strips of celery leaf.
Sprinkle the foie gras with a little spice mix.
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© Olivier Roellinger - Maisons de Bricourt. |
