M cooks: foie gras fit for a prince and princess

Marco Pierre White celebrates the Royal Wedding with a decadent foie gras - sandals are optional.

Marco Pierre White recommends celebrating the Royal Wedding with a delicious foie gras with apple butter.

I was just a lad when the last Royal Wedding took place, but I remember it well. We all sat glued to the telly and watched in silence as Diana became HRH Princess of Wales. When they took their vows we all stood up and toasted them; remember, it was back in the days you stood at attention when God Save the Queen was played. I still do, but I may be in a minority.

I'm sure Kate will look just as gorgeous as Diana did, though I will eat my hat if she opts for the overblown meringue look that has long gone out of fashion.

I hope I will be able to eat some delicious foie gras instead of my hat, and I hope you will, too.

There is always a lot of fuss about foie gras, the politically correct and animal-rights-sandal-wearing brigade get all up in arms about it. I remember a dreadful journalist who came to interview me once (she shall remain nameless of course, I am nothing if not discreet). I offered her some foie gras and she got all high and mighty, telling me what an evil person I was to have it in my kitchen.

"So you refuse to eat it on moral grounds, do you?" I asked her.

"Yes," she snapped back.

"Funny that someone who is so moral should be having an affair," I retorted. "So you can't eat goose, but you can treat your husband like one?" I have my spies and I knew what she was up to. Typical socialist. She shut up after that, and wrote a very nice article about me!

Anyway, this foie gras shouldn't cause too much offence, even to the socialist sandal-wearers among you, because it is made of duck's liver. Despite the lack of goose, it is still fit for a wedding feast and I highly recommend you cook some up to watch the big event on Friday. I will be watching it, too, with some foie gras on hand and a tear in my eye as I see the lovely couple joined together in matrimony and say a little prayer that things work out better for them than their forebears. I somehow think they will, although they may not be allowed as much foie gras as they were back then.

MAKE IT YOURSELF

Seared foie gras with apple butter

INGREDIENTS

8 x 50g slices fresh duck liver

Maldon salt to taste

8 slices toasted nut bread Apple butter (recipe follows)

12 roasted walnuts

For the apple butter:

6 cooking apples, such as Bramley or Granny Smith

125g brown sugar

100ml apple juice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Pinch ground cloves

METHOD

1. Peel, core and dice the apples into small cubes.

2. Combine the diced apples and the rest of the butter ingredients in a pot and cook over medium-high heat until the apples are soft. Purée the ingredients in a blender until smooth, then return to the pot.

3. Continue to reduce the purée over low heat until 80 per cent of the liquid has evaporated. The sugars will begin to caramelise and the purée will thicken. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

4. To achieve an even smoother purée you can blend the apple butter once more, then pass through a fine sieve.

TO ASSEMBLE

Note: The foie gras will cook quickly and needs to be served immediately, so ensure all the items for the following steps are prepared and ready.

1. Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Place the foie gras in the pan and sear each side for 2-3 minutes to achieve a golden crust. Remove the foie gras from the pan and season with Maldon salt.

2. Arrange the foie gras on a plate with the toasted bread, then garnish with the apple butter and roasted walnuts.

SERVES 4