Daughter Veronica serving Gateau de foie in St Romans

This is a great appetizer for a family occasion,  as it looks very festive but is in fact pretty light. The recipe is a combination from my grand-mother with a few tips from Paul Bocuse to refine it.

Veronica and I just made this for eight, it was her first time and this is exactly what we did.  We put a dozen chicken livers in the food processor with a large fresh garlic clove, one shallot and a quarter of a bunch of parsley, together with 4 large butter croissants, salt and pepper, three eggs and one cup of light cream ; Just like that! Press the switch to make this into a fairly fine texture. Check the taste for salt and pour into greased ramekins. One each is best for presentation but one or two  pie dishes work as well.

The ramekins are placed in a bain-marie (that’s just a water bath) in the oven tray and placed in the oven for about 20 minutes until you can retrieve your knife with a clean blade when you poke through one of the gateau. You don’t want them to brown and may have to cover them loosely with a foil if the oven is too hot from the top.

In the meantime, we had diced some very ripe tomatoes to saute in a frying pan with garlic, shallot, thyme,  a tbsp balsamic with olive oil to make a thin tomato sauce. To the sauce, we added diced small pickles, not the sweet kind.  Pitted green olives are also a tasty option.

As soon as the cakes are ready, we turned them over into the pre-heated serving bowls, detaching the sides with the blade of a knife.

Gateaux de foie just out of the oven

Now is the time to quickly cover each gateau de foie with the tomato sauce and call your guests to the table. This should melt in your mouth, and a dry white wine won’t hurt!