Author Topic: A Nice Harvest Pâté  (Read 2087 times)

Spellogue

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A Nice Harvest Pâté
« on: October 17, 2013, 02:58:02 AM »
I set aside the livers when I butchered a half dozen chickens the other day and decided to use them for pâté.  Here is the recipe I developed.  Talk about umami!  It's quite good; a great introduction to chicken liver for the uninitiated.  It works well with goose or rabbit livers as well.

Harvest Chicken Liver Pâté

3/4 pound (appox. 6) chicken livers, cleaned
4 tablespoons butter at room temperature, divided
2 slices bacon, diced
1 medium chopped onion
1 stalk celery chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 large tart apple, peeled, cored and chopped into 1/4 inch cubes
1 tablespoon rubbed sage,
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1/4 cup clarified butter, melted

Sliced baguette, crackers or mini toasts, for serving

To clean chicken livers remove tough, fiberous bits and any dark spots.  Rinse well.  Soak livers in milk for 24 hrs. Drain, rinse, and pat dry.   (Soaking in milk is optional, but I do it to make the end result milder as I don't normally add cream.)

Sauté bacon in butter until crispy. Add onion, celery, and garlic.  Sauté until tender.  Add apple and livers. Cook until livers are firm but pink inside and apple softens.  Add sage, allspice, and nutmeg.  Cook one minute and transfer to bowl.  Pour bourbon into pan to deglaze and reduce to 3 tbsp.  transfer to bowl.  Add a few grinds of pepper and salt.  Add cream if using.  (the cream makes for an easily spreading pate and softens the flavor a bit.  I rarely use it preferring a more sturdy pate I can feel on the tooth.) Purée with stick blender.

Pack pâté into ramekins and top with clarified butter.

Chill at least overnight or up to 10 days.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: A Nice Harvest Pâté
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2013, 03:19:33 PM »
Sounds great!  Can you imagine this with grass-fed lamb liver?  Do you think it would work?

High Altitude

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Re: A Nice Harvest Pâté
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2013, 07:59:47 PM »
Yum...going to copy this and make for Thanksgiving too (alongside my cheeseplate)!

Spellogue

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Re: A Nice Harvest Pâté
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2013, 05:17:54 PM »
Sounds great!  Can you imagine this with grass-fed lamb liver?  Do you think it would work?

I should think it would work with a young lamb liver. Depending on the age and breed of the lamb that could make quite a bit of pâté, just adjust the quantities of other ingredients accordingly.   I sauté kid goat livers with garlic and red wine and serve it alongside the chops.  I've never used it for pâté, but a young kid liver is very similar in texture and consistency of a chicken liver.  I would think lamb liver is about the same, but might have a bit stronger flavor.     

Duck and goose liver make a richer pâté, so sometimes I cut back on the butter and don't include bacon with them.  (The bacon and apple are newer additions for me.  I was thinking pear might work too.)   When I've made pâté with rabbit livers I didn't use any fruit, bacon, or spices aside from salt & pepper
 and it was also very tasty.