Sweet and savory indulgence

Sunset, Nov, 1998 by Jerry Anne Di Vecchio

Extremely rich foods, from blue cheese to foie gras, fare well with sweet companions that have enough underlying acid to counter the foods' unctuousness. Several kinds of fruit do the job very well - pear and pineapple, for instance. My favorite for a blowout occasion is firm, orange Fuyu persimmon, served like a slice of the sun with warm foie gras.

Order fresh foie gras several days ahead from an upscale supermarket. And for a simple sauce with rich body, start with a shelf-stable or frozen reduction (demi-glace), also from a well-stocked supermarket.

Once the ingredients are assembled, this first course is easy to engineer. And it's stunning.

Fuyu Persimmons with Foie Gras

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 30 minutes

NOTES: Foie gras is easiest to handle when cold and firm. Make sauce (step 3) up to a day ahead; cover and chill, then reheat. As a less costly alternative to fresh foie gras, buy 1/2 pound duck or chicken liver pate or mousse. Cut pate into 6 equal parts and spread on toast, then broil about 6 inches from heat just until pate begins to sizzle, about 2 minutes. Top with sauce.

MAKES: 6 servings

6 to 8 ounces chilled fresh duck foie gras

2 firm-ripe Fuyu persimmons (5 to 6 oz. total), rinsed

About 2 cups watercress sprigs, rinsed and drained

1 package (1 1/2 oz.; 2 tablespoons) shelf-stable demi-glace (any flavor)

1/2 cup madeira

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1/4 cup whipping cream

6 slices (about 1/2 in. thick; 6 oz. total) dense white bread or slightly sweet egg bread such as brioche or challah

Salt

1. Rinse foie gras, pat dry, and discard any tough membrane. Cut foie gras crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Cover and chill.

2. Trim off stems and bottom ends of persimmons. Cut each crosswise into 3 equal pieces. Lay a slice on each plate with a cluster of watercress sprigs.

3. In a 10- to 12-inch frying pan, mix demi-glace, madeira, vinegar, and cream. Boil over high heat, stirring often, until 2/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Put sauce in a small bowl; keep warm. Rinse and dry pan.

4. Lay bread slices, side by side, in a 10- by 15-inch pan. Broil about 6 inches from heat until toasted on both sides, about 3 minutes total. Keep toast warm.

5. Place frying pan over high heat; when very hot, add foie gras. Brown slices lightly, turning once, about 1 minute total (fat spatters, so partially cover pan). Take off heat.

6. Put toast on plates and top each slice with about 2 teaspoons of foie gras fat. top equally with foie gras.

7. Drizzle warm sauce equally over foie gras. Season to taste with salt.

Per serving (not including foie gras, which is approximately 98% fat): 170 cal., 23% (39 cal.) from fat; 3 g protein; 4.3 g fat (2.1 g sat.); 25 g carbo (0.9 g fiber); 188 mg sodium: 11 mg chol.

Tried-and-true tricks on a roll

Aunt Nora, my homesteading great-aunt, never wasted a thing, even worn-out cotton socks: she snipped off the tops and slipped them onto her rolling pin. The flour clung lightly to the fabric, not the pastry, and made rolling dough much easier. This great idea has stuck, but socks are out. Instead, at cookware and hardware stores, you can buy knit cotton tubing cut to fit a rolling pin. A companion aid is a pastry cloth made of firm canvas. Toss both in the wash between uses. together, these cloths roll right over sticky dough problems.

A taste for taro

This island sleeper is worth rooting out

* Visitors to a Hawaiian luau usually come away with two impressions: the pit-roast pig is amazing, and poi tastes like library paste. But the ingredient that is beaten up to make poi - taro - is another story. In other forms it's very easy to like. A starchy, tuberous root (technically a corm), taro tastes much like a sweet potato, doesn't fall apart when cooked, and soaks up flavor like a sponge.

Hundreds of varieties of Colocasia esculenta grow around the world, often beyond the tropical latitudes where the plant originated.

One important detail: Don't eat, or even peel taro raw. It contains crystals of calcium oxalate, an irritant deactivated by heat. So blanch in boiling water before peeling, then cook.

This casserole for lazy cooks isn't a dish you'd find at a luau, but it does bring pork and taro together in a flavorsome way.

Roast Pork and Taro

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 3 1/2 hours

MAKES: 6 servings

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds taro (2 to 3 in. long)

1 piece fat-trimmed, boned and tied pork butt or shoulder (2 to 2 1/2 lb.)

1 onion (1/2 lb.), peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

2 cups fat-skimmed chicken or beef broth

4 cups chopped washed spinach leaves

Salt

1. In a 4- to 5-quart ovenproof pan over high heat, bring 2 quarts water to a boil. Add taro and cook 5 minutes. Drain and let cool. With a knife, peel taro and cut away any bruised or decayed spots. Cut taro into 1-inch chunks. Rinse pan.

2. Rinse pork and set, fatty side up, in pan. Add taro, onion, ginger, and broth.

3. Cover and bake in a 375 [degrees] oven until meat is very tender when pierced, about 2 1/2 hours. Uncover and stir spinach into juices. Bake until meat is lightly browned, about 30 minutes more. Then broil about 8 inches from heat until meat is richly browned, about 5 minutes longer.