Warm Salad of Small White Beans, Conserve Duck and Tomatoes

This recipe is from Chef Patrick Raux; a genial man with a perennial smile on his face. He is as passionate about food as any Frenchman who loves good food could be. I came across this recipe in today's City Times and it looked good to me, so here it is! The number of servings, preparation time and cooking time are all guesswork since the recipe had none of these mentioned, I just guessed.

• Ready In: 1 hr 12 mins
• Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 600  g  small white beans
• 2  cups chicken broth or 2  cups vegetable broth
• 1  carrot
• 2  white onions
• 3 -5  cloves
• 1  bouquet garni
•  salt and pepper
• 1  dash paprika or 2  pimientos
• 1  fresh garlic clove
• 1  tablespoon vinegar, xeres
• 3  tablespoons olive oil
• 2  red onions
• 1  shallot
• 2  medium tomatoes
• 2  big  conserve duck legs
• 4  slices foie gras
•  butter
•  parsley, to garnish

Directions

1. In a skillet, put white beans, carrots, onions, cloves, a bouquet garni, pepper, paprika (or small pimentos) and garlic.
2. Cook till the small white beans are tender.
3. After boiling, remove the aromatic herbs; reserve.
4. Now prepare the French dressing with red onions.
5. For this, in the bottom of a jar, mix together 2 red onions with 10 cl of chicken broth (or vegetable broth) and pimento.
6. Add a tablespoon of vinegar xeres and 2 tablespoons of olive oil; reserve.
7. Now prepare the fresh tomatoes sauce.
8. For this, cut the unskinned tomatoes into thin slices.
9. Pour over them a dressing sauce with salt, pepper, pimento, garlic, shallot and a tablespoon of olive oil; reserve.
10. From a conserve duck, remove the skin of 2 legs and crumble the meat.
11. Poach these pieces of meat for 2 minutes; reserve.
12. Fry fresh slices of foie grass.
13. Add salt and pepper to taste; mix well.
14. Warm up for about 2 minutes, the white beans in their stock; strain.
15. Add the fresh tomatoes and seasoning.
16. Place the mixture in the centre of a plate.
17. Cover on the top with duck meat and a slice of foie grass.
18. Sprinkle with fine herbs.
19. Add the dressing with the red onions all around the salad of white beans.