Serves: Four
Time Required: One Hour 10 minutes plus baking and marinating time.
Ingredients: Chicken Liver: 200gm
Butter: 1 cup (200gm)
Onion: 20gm chopped fine.
Apple: 15gm (peel, cored and chopped fine)
Tangerine/orange/sweet lime: 8 segments
Thyme: 1gm
Rosemary: 1gm
Marjoram: 1gm
Parsley: 2gm
Red wine: 4 tsp.
Cream: 100ml
Egg: 1
Nutmeg powder: 1gm
For the Duck:Breasts of Duck: 2(650gms)
Or
Chicken breasts: 4
Garlic paste: 2gm
Dried rosemary: 1gm
White pepper powder: a pinch
Salt: to taste
Oil to sear: 2 tbsp. (30ml)
For the Dressing:Lemon juice: 2 tbsp. (30ml)
Parsley: 10gm, chopped fine
White pepper powder: a pinch
Salt: to taste
For the Accompaniments:Tomatoes: 4 (400gm)
Heads lettuce: 2
Cucumber: 1 (100gm)
Carrot: 1 (60gm)
Parsley: 4 sprigs, chopped fine
Lemon juice: cup (60ml)
Olive oil or salad oil: 4tsp (20 ml)
White pepper powder: a pinch
Salt :to taste
Preparation : Clean liver and remove the sinews. Finely chop the citrus fruit segments. If using fresh herbs, clean and wash thyme, rosemary, marjoram and parsley.
Melt all but 30g.of butter over low heat in a pan. When it is reasonably warm, remove from heat. Add the liver and keep aside. Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan, add onions, sauté over medium heat until translucent. Add apples and sauté for tow minutes. Then add the citrus fruit and herbs, stir for tow minutes. Add red wine bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for four minutes. Remove from heat. When cool, transfer to a blender, add the liver and butter, sprinkle nutmeg and grind to a smooth puree.
Pass the liver puree through a fine mesh soup strainer into tow oven-proof earthenware or oven-proof bowls. Arrange the bowls in a roasting tray.
Preheat the oven to 300 F. boil enough water in a pan, pour it around the bowls in roasting tray (it should cover half the level of the bowls).put the tray in the preheated oven and bake for one hour. Remove, cool and refrigerate.
Clean the duck (or chicken) without removing the skin, trim, wash and pat dry. Mix rosemary, pepper powder and salt with garlic paste. Rub the breasts with this marinade and reserve for fifteen minutes.
Heat oil in a pan, add the marinade breasts and sear over very high heat until evenly golden brown. Remove to a roasting tray, pour on the drippings and bake in the preheated oven at 3000 F, turning and basting at regular intervals, for 20-25 minutes or until three-fourths cooked (unless, of course, you like the duck well done ). Remove, cool, cut into six slices of equal thickness and refrigerate. (The chicken will be cooked in about 10 to 12 minutes.)
TO PREPARE THE SALAD: Remove eyes, carefully cut tomatoes into lotus shapes, remove the pulp and keep aside. Cut lettuce into smaller pieces and pat dry. Cut the cucumber into thin slices. Cut the carrot into heart (or any other) shapes, blanch in boiling water for two minutes. Drain and plunge into iced water to refresh and drain again.
TO PREPARE THE DRESSING: Mix parsley, pepper powder and salt with lemon juice in a salad bowl. Add the salad vegetables, except tomatoes, and mix them lightly, without damaging the lettuce. Divide into four equal portions.
TO SERVE: Place a tomato shell in the middle of each of the four individual plates. Arrange a portion of the salad around it, place three slices of the duck breast, evenly spaced, over the salad. Spoon out equal quantities of the liver parfait into the tomato shells. Garnish with parsley and serve with mini naan or a bread of your choice.
Nutritive value of each serving:Calories: 1,001 kcal.
Proteins: 42.8 g.
Fat: 83.1 g.
Minerals: 6.7 g.
Fibre: 2.2 g.
Carbohydrates: 19.2 g.
