Only two days to go before my parents arrive to come and live with us and 4 posts still to do this month! As I promised to give you the recipes from “my” birthday, it’s about time I did just that. So without further ado here is the starter/appetizer recipe: Apples stuffed with foie gras.

I had seen a recipe using foie gras and apples and a “ooh, that sounds like a great idea” thought passed through my mind, along with a “now where did you see said recipe?” thought. No answer to thought two appeared so I just had to come up with my own version.

I made the apples the day before and put them in the fridge overnight which leaves you with one less thing to do on the day (vitally important if you ask me). I added the foie gras just before serving along with the salad and dressing. No stress and a very impressive starter / appetizer indeed.

My mate Sally often serves foie gras as a starter with ginger jam so I decided to add crystallized ginger (stem ginger preserved in syrup) to my recipe. The ginger gives it a lovely little “bite” and even the picky eaters in the group ate every bit of it so it can’t have been bad! We loved it, but you could leave it out and add a dash of nutmeg instead (you coward you!).

Once the apples are cored, I dip them in water to which I have added a bit of vinegar (probably about a tablespoon of vinegar to a liter of water) to stop them from going brown. It also gives them an extra clean which can’t do any harm. You can use any apple you prefer – I used red and green Gala apples, but Golden Delicious is just as good.

I cored the apples with my special Apple corer which creates a long tube down the apple and leaves it without a bottom, so I used the Brazil nuts to stuff the bottom to stop the filling falling out. You could use other nuts if you prefer or core the apple and leave the bottom intact and use none at all.

I think the recipe I saw used uncooked foie gras, but seeing as I had my own homemade liver (see the post …) I used this instead. You could use raw foie gras if you like and just add it to the apples before you cook it – do let me know if you try it this way as I haven’t!

I used Lambs lettuce or Corn Salad (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_salad ) to serve mine, but other lettuce could work just as well. I also used the liquid from the baking dish as a dressing, but a regular salad dressing would work equally well. Some of ginger juice had run out so the liquid was slightly thickened and slightly sweetened.

APPLES STUFFED WITH FOIE GRAS
Serves 6
6 apples
50gr (about 2 tbsp.) crystallized ginger (stem ginger preserved in syrup) , chopped with syrup
1 tbsp. of shelled pistachios
6 Brazil nuts
1 cup water
300g Foie Gras, cut into 6 pieces
Water with vinegar to dip the apples (see above)
Lambs lettuce to serve

1. Cut a 2cm “lid” off the apples and then core the apples and then dip in the water / vinegar mix to stop them going brown. Using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out the apple flesh leaving about 1cm thickness.

2. Push a brazil nut into the opening at the bottom of the apple.

3. Chop the removed apple flesh and add to the chopped ginger, ginger syrup and chopped pistachios. Stuff this back into the apples.

4. Place the apples into a baking dish, pour in a cup of water and bake covered in the oven for about 30 minutes at 180C. Remove and cool.

5. Gently press the filling to one side and place a piece of Foie Gras in each apple. Serve with the lettuce and use the liquid in the baking dish as a dressing (or use a dressing of your choice).