I find it interesting how so many foods that back in the day were most likely eaten because people would not waste any part of an animal, are now either gourmet foods or at least they sell for a lot more at the store than you should reasonably be asking for them. Let’s take chicken wings for example. Definitely a ‘what are we going to do with this’ kinda food, but go check the price of wings on the meat section… As for me, I am not a fan of liver at all, in fact you could chase me with calf liver, but I love good Paté or Mousee Trufée, goose duck, chicken, it’s all good. But as with so many things, it is generally either out of budget or there are too many ingredients in it I am trying to avoid, or both, like in this case. I for one think that a chicken liver paté, does not need any pork in it, thank you very much. Or soy, or hydrolyzed plant protein or whey or even egg. Paté is, I know, not everybody’s thing, but this spread is fantastic, even if you go with the basic version and omit the truffle paste. No need to like liver, I don’t.
When I first looked into making this, I had looked through my old recipe books, and all I found was seriously time consuming recipes, where you bake stuff in a water bath in the oven. Who has time for that, I ask? So off I went into the kitchen and after a little tinkering, came up with a version, maybe not 100 % traditional in its preparation and technique, but tasty? check, and quick? check. So if you like some good gourmet food on occasion, you’ll be happy to know that it is easy to make and very much every day affordable (although you might want to curb that habit just a bit, liver paté is a pretty rich food)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 8 oz chicken liver
- 3/4 tsp green pepper corns
- 3/4 tsp black pepper corns
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 small clove garlic
- 2 tbsp Cognac or Calvados*
- (optional: 1 tsp truffle paste )
* Calvados is a French spirit distilled from apples, basically an apple brandy from a specific region
Directions
- Melt all but 1 tbsp of the butter over low heat in a heavy sauté pan.
- Add the peppercorns and turn heat up to medium.
- Chop the chicken livers into pieces and add to the pan, stirring occasionally. Cook until browned on the outside, but still slightly pink inside (unless you really like your meat well done, then go for it, cook it more)
- With a fork, pick out the cooked liver pieces, let cool slightly then put them into your food processor.
- Add 1 tbsp Cognac or Calvados to the pan and scrape up any browned bits, then remove most of the peppercorns from the pan and set aside.
- Crush the garlic into the same pan, roasting until golden, then tip the butter and garlic into the food processor with the chicken livers.
- Pulse a few times to combine, then add the remaining 1 tbsp Cognac or Calvados, and the salt, blend until smooth
- Add the truffle paste (if using) and the pepercorns and pulse a few times to combine
- Melt the remaining butter. Spread chicken liver mix from blender into several small ramekin forms and pour the molten butter over top.
- Refrigerate for at least a half hour before serving. Whatever you are not going to eat within 3-4 days, freeze for later.
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