Fancy presentation in France for appetizer: verrines are small individual glasses. Pear compote, foie gras and gingerbread crumbs sprinkled
Whether you make your own foie gras or you buy it, there are so many ways to impress your guests using it. In France, it is most commonly served on bread toasts. I like to offer foie gras on gingerbread toasts with fig jam or spiced onion confit or compote. Another solution is to choose to serve in small individual glasses or cups that we call verrines in French.
Verrines individual grasses for a fancy presentation
Verrines are individual servings for appetizers (even though they tend to be used as well for starters and desserts). Usually glasses are the size of an expresso coffee cup, but recently all kind of shape and size are seen. Verrine in French comes from the word Verre / glass. They are great for simple or more structured presentations with different layers and tastes. They always look elegant and allow many combinations according to your inspiration. The French just love verrines. I admit it’s quite interesting, fun and a hip way to present things, forcasual apéro with simple ingredients to fancy feasts like here for Christmas.
I propose here to associate the foie gras with spices:
- A compote of pears lightly seasoned with cinnamon, gently cooked to become almost confit. You can change spice and its quantity according to your taste.
- Gingerbread reduced into powder or very small pieces. You can use my spice and honey gingerbread recipe, available on this website by using this link. My recipe has many different spices in it and is very tasty. If you read the article, you’ll learn about the origin of French gingerbread and its history through the centuries, which is quite fun. You may also buy gingerbread.
Foie Gras with Pear in Verrines Individual Glasses
Ingredients
- foie gras in order to have 1 or 2 bites in each verrine
- 4 to 6 pears according to their size about 1.2 kg unpeeled
- 1 large spoonful honey
- 3 pinches cinnamon
- 2 slices gingerbread
Instructions
Cook pears
- Start by peeling pears and removing the seeds. Cut them into small pieces and place them in a saucepan with honey and cinnamon.
- Heat and let it cook for about 15 minutes over medium heat (without covering as you want the preparation to reduce). Cooking time depends on your pears. The more juicy and ripe they are, the longer they have to cook to reduce. The final texture should not be too liquid otherwise it will not be practical to eat.
- Once cooked, let the compote cool down.
Dress verrines
- Cut two slices of gingerbread and roughly grind them in the blender. If your gingerbread is very soft, you can toast it. The drier it is, the easier it is to reduce into powder.
- Finally cut some small pieces of foie gras and prepare your verrines: compote of pears at the bottom, one or two pieces of foie gras (according to their size or the width of your verrines) then sprinkle over the crushed gingerbread.
- Reserve in the refrigerator before serving.
Notes
Bon appétit !
