When you've stuffed your face with the festive bird its rude not to leave a bit of room for a light supper with Pate on toast.
This is a simple tasty version,its fairly mild in flavour which makes a change from all the other rich things Christmas has to offer.
I prefer to blitz it smoooooth ,but no reason not to leave it a bit chunky if you prefer it that way.
INGREDIENTS
250G Fresh Chicken Livers..(buy fresh if you can as you can then freeze the finished pate.)
200G Double Cream
2 Big Kernobs Butter
Plus Extra 200G Unsalted Butter for clarifying
4 Large Cloves of Garlic(more or less to taste)
2 Red Onions chopped
3 Rashers of Smoked Bacon Chopped(Chorizo is a tasty alternative)
Splash of Port
Few Mushrooms
Few Fresh Sage Leaves(or Herbs of your choosing)
salt & Pepper
(forgot the mushrooms..DOH)
Core the Chicken Livers removing all the white sinew and centre stringy parts ....(shown on the right)
Unlike Traditional cuts of meat Offal needs careful cooking as Campylobacter is an unpleasant after effect of Livers
that are not cooked correctly..........here we add a large kernob of butter to the pan and brown the livers on one side
on a medium heat..........
.......NOW turn over and continue to cook the Livers till there is no visual sign of blood ....remember though we don't want to over cook the Livers or the resulting pate becomes grainy !!!!!!!.....anyway....as you cook them cut through a few pieces to check the core
of the livers are cooked through....eg no more blood or pink flesh showing ....once you are happy the Livers are cooked add a splash of Port and continue to cook through for another 2 mins..!!!!
once cooked set aside !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clean the pan ....and add another kernob of butter and cook the vegetables,Sage and bacon on a medium heat till cooked through
and nicely softened..!!!!.....but not burned.
Once vegetables are cooked through.....add the Livers and 200G of Double Cream..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..now mix together contents of pan.
Season well.....Cook contents of pan for another 2 minutes !!!!!!!!!!!!.....now turn off heat and set pan and contents aside to cool down.
Once pan is cool enough I cover the pan top in cling film and after making a hole just big enough I stick a hand blender through the hole and blitz the pan contents to the desired consistency.....clingfilm stops the contents being added to your kitchen walls...
Once your happy with the thickness of your Pate ....reheat pan and cook through if you prefer the consistency a little less wet.....
....otherwise if your happy with the thickness.....just let the Pate mixture cool and fill some Ramekins....leave a small lip to allow for
some clarified butter if you wish to store the Pate in the fridge.....the butter topping extends the fridge life.
Place 200G of butter in a dish in the microwave for 2 mins .....the butter will split .....it is the clear clarified butter on the top we want to use.....the fats in the bottom can be thrown away.....spoon the clarified butter onto the ramekin tops.
Once Ramekins are full ..I added a few Fresh Cranberries for effect....now let them cool and fridge for 24 hours to let flavours fuse together.....to avoid any tainting I always cover the Ramekins in a food box.
Serve your Pate at room temperature so the butter topping softens you can then spread it on some griddled pieces of Toast.
Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!
""Festive Chicken Liver Pate with Vegetables ""
Merry Christmas
Gazza
