Since I had more foie gras than I needed to prepare Tournedos Rossini, I decided to use the leftover foie gras to make a simple appetizer of faux Brussels sprouts filled with cream of foie gras, inspired by a more elaborate dish we recently had at Librije. The five sprouts you see in the center of the plate look like they are actual Brussels sprouts, but they are actually only the outer leaves and the rest is cream of foie gras. I completed the dish with some beetroot, topped with more cream of foie gras. Filling the sprouts is a bit finicky, but with some help and a piping bag it is not that difficult. Given the richness of foie gras the suggested portion size is quite small.

Ingredients

For 4 servings as an appetizer

100 grams (3.5 oz) fresh foie gras

60 outer leaves of Brussels sprouts, plus more for garnish

60 ml (1/4 cup) cream, I used light cream (7% fat)

cooked beetroot, for garnish

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Chop the foie gras (removing any large veins you encounter) and put it in a saucepan with the cream.

Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

Heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until it reaches 70C/158F and then turn off the heat. Make sure it does not get hotter than 80C/180F, or the emulsion will break.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Transfer the cream of foie gras to a bowl, cover, and allow to firm up in the refrigerator.

Pluck the outer leaves of the sprouts and reserve the inner sprouts for some other use.

Bring salted water to a boil, and blanch the sprout leaves for 30 to 60 seconds.

Take them out of the boiling water with a strainer, and plunge in cold water to cool and stop the cooking process.

Transfer the cream of foie gras to a piping bag.

Have someone assist you. One person forms a ‘sprout’ out of three outer leaves, and holds it while the other person fills it up with the cream of foie gras.

Arrange the ‘sprouts’ on serving plates with the open side facing down. Garnish with additional sprout leaves and slices of beet topped with any remaining cream of foie gras. (I sliced the beet and used a small cookie cutter to produce uniformly shaped slices of beet.)

Wine pairing

This is great with many off-dry creamy white wines (such as an aged Riesling Spätlese), or even sweet ones such as Sauternes.

Flashback

These deep fried corn ravioli filled with chili con carne and smoked mozzarella are pretty crazy, but very tasty as well.