We haven’t had a recipe in weeks. And, frankly, they didn’t come much simpler than this. I’ve made paté a number of times but the only shop that I knew that would regularly keep chicken livers was Superquinn (now SuperValu), on the other side of the town. So laziness meant it’s been a long while since I made some.
While doing the grocery shopping on Saturday I noticed that Tesco, just around the corner, had started to stock them, so I added some to my trolley and made paté today 🙂
There’s dozens of different recipes available, and you can make pate out of lots of things non chicken liver. And there’s a range of ingredients you can use. Assorted types have port, or sherry, herbs or no herbs, are sealed with clarified butter…or not. But I tried this really simple recipe I found on the Manor Farm website, http://www.chicken.ie
Ingredients
250g chicken livers
140g butter
1 onion, finely chopped – I used a red one…
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper
½ tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp brandy
Method
Melt half the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat and cook the onion for 3 – 4 minutes until soft and transparent. Add the garlic and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes.
Check the chicken livers and remove any discoloured parts using a pair of scissors.
Add the livers to the frying pan and cook over quite a high heat for 5 – 6 minutes until they are brown in colour and fully cooked. Season well with salt and pepper and add the mustard and brandy.
Process the pate in a blender until smooth. Add the remaining butter cut into small pieces and process again until creamy.
Spoon the paté into a serving dish or small ramekins, smooth the surface and cover and leave in fridge until set and ready to use. Typically paté is sealed with clarified butter with a bay leaf atop. But frankly these will keep perfectly in the freezer for months…and simply won’t last long when they’ve been opened. I’ve used cling film, pressed down onto the surface of the paté.
Serve any way you wish, the usually with slivers of toast and red currant jelly / jam if you have it.
Recipe © Carton Group t/a Manor Farm
Blogpost © David Wilkins Oct 2014
Dave Wilkins 