Foie Gras Toasts with Sauternes Gelee: 2000s Recipes + Menus : gourmet.com

2000s Recipes + Menus

Makesabout 36 hors d’oeuvres

Active time:30 min
Start to finish:5 hr (includes chilling)

November 2008

These little stacks of toasted and buttered bread, foie gras terrine, and Sauternes gelée—crisp, creamy, cool—will make you swoon and sigh. They provide such a rich reward for so simple an assembly: The only thing you make from scratch is the gelée; it’s like a sip of dessert wine on top of this extraordinary first bite.

Learn the story behind the Over the Top Thanksgiving menu in our series The Recipe.

1 cup Sauternes or other white dessert wine
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-oz envelope)
2 tablespoons water
1 (1-inch-thick) slice of foie gras terrine (6 oz; not páté or mousse) or a 6 1/2-oz block
6 (1/2-inch-thick) slices firm white bread (pullman loaf or firm sandwich bread)
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Equipment:

a small offset spatula

Lightly oil a shallow 8-inch square baking dish or pan and line bottom and sides with a sheet of plastic wrap.
Bring Sauternes and sugar to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over water in a small bowl and let soften 1 minute. Pour hot wine over gelatin mixture, then stir until gelatin has dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
Pour wine-gelatin mixture into lined dish and chill, covered, until set, at least 4 hours.
Lift gelée out of dish using plastic wrap and transfer to a cutting board. Cut gelée into 3/4-inch squares (without cutting through plastic).
Cut foie gras into 1-inch squares (about 1/4 inch thick). Transfer squares with offset spatula to a tray lined with plastic wrap, then top each with a square of gelée (you will have extra gelée). Chill, covered with plastic wrap, until ready to serve.
Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in upper third.
Trim crusts from bread, then brush with butter and cut 6 (1 1/4-inch) squares from each slice. Arrange in a 4-sided sheet pan and bake until golden, about 6 minutes.
Top toasts with foie-gras-and-gelée stacks.

Cooks’ notes:

Gelée can be chilled up to 2 days.
Foie-gras-and-gelée stacks can be chilled up to 1 day.
Bread can be buttered and cut (but not baked) 2 hours ahead and chilled, covered with plastic wrap.

Recipe by Shelley Wiseman

Photograph by John Kernick