This chicken liver pate needs to be made at least ½ day before use, it keeps quite well for a couple of weeks in the fridge.
Many recipes have only chicken livers in them, I like to add some pork mince as it softens a bit the taste of the chicken livers. You could also use chicken mince. The weight ratio in pork/chicken mince is between 1/5 to 1/4 of the paté.
This method requires cooking each ingredient one by one, then blending them together, there is no lengthy cooking as you may find for some other patés and terrines.
You need to choose before making the paté which flavour you will give your paté, if any. I may add good quality Port (Porto) or a drop of whiskey. My favourite is adding different types of peppers (green, black and red).
If you only have a small food processor, I suggest using half the size of this recipe.
You will find livers at the butcher, ask the butcher, livers are often kept at the back.
The recipe below makes 5-6 jars of paté (150-160 g each + butter topping).
Ingredients:
- 500 g of chicken livers
- 250 g of pork/chicken mince maximum, 150 g minimum
- 1 medium onion
- About 200 g of butter
- 1/2 glass of water
- Salt
- Pepper, black as a minimum ground and whole. I also use red pepper bays on top. The pepper paté has whole (not grounded) green pepper (35g – that would depend where your source the pepper from) and one generous tablespoon of black peppercorn inside.
- Optional – A bit of port, fortified wine, whiskey or strong alcohol (not required if opting for strong pepper option)
- A few leaves of parsley or red pepper for the topping
Method:
1/. Prepare the livers by removing all the small nerves or skins, make sure to keep the livers whole as much as possible.
2/. Cut the onion in small cubes or small slices, melt 50 g of butter in the fry pan and cook gently the onion until melted down, transfer to the food processor.
3/. Cook the mince in the frypan until well cooked, season to taste (salt and ground black pepper), then transfer into the food processor.
3/. In the frypan, add another 80-100 g of butter, when the butter is melted, add the livers, season (salt and black pepper) to your taste. Be careful with the salt, it will appear saltier when cooled down. Cook the livers until just pink in the middle (cut one open to check). You will need to turn the livers half way (a couple of minutes) and remove earlier the smaller pieces from the frypan. There should be no more blood but it should not be overcooked. Once cooked, transfer to the food processor, including all the butter of the frypan. Add the whole pepper to the blender is using making the pepper version.
4/. Whizz the food processor until you reach a very fine structure, add the alcohol at this stage if using. Add half of the water at his stage. If the paste is thick and does not mix well, you can add a bit more of the water or a drop more alcohol (do not add too much though) or add some melted butter, one teaspoon at the time. This is also the time where you can adjust your seasoning before a last short whizz (so they are not fully broken down).
5/. Transfer the chicken liver pate to containers (plastic boxes or ceramics bowls). With a spatula or the back of a spoon, ensure the mix is spread evenly and flat at the top. Melt the remaining butter and cover each surface with it. This will prevent oxidation. Add the red pepper or parsley leaves (for decoration).
The chicken liver pate will keep in the fridge for two weeks.
Enjoy!
