Chicken Liver Pâté – The Best I’ve Made So Far!
I love chicken liver pâté! I love a smooth rich pâté, spread thickly onto toast, crackers, even direct from the knife! I could eat it ’til the cows come home! And it’s a great dish to have for a dinner party or even a light lunch as you can prepare it ahead of time, something I’m all on for!
I’ve tried a few recipes over the years, some simple, some complicated, from baked to fried, from pre-soaking the livers in milk to adding straight to the pan, from adding thyme, Chinese five spice, nutmeg. I’ve tried all combinations and methods but there was always something about either the ingredients or the method that didn’t appeal. My quest for the perfect pâté has continued…until now!
Last week I made another pâté for Valentine’s Day using what I’d learnt and liked from each recipe I’d tried and this recipe is the one I’ll be using from now on as it was more than fine; it was – is – absolutely delicious! The addition of the juniper berries was inspired by a recipe by Stéphane Reynaud {whose cookbook Ripalles I recently reviewed} and what an inspiration they proved to be as the berries added a certain something to the dish. But the real difference this time was the quality of the livers and for this recipe I used French chicken livers. They made a BIG difference to the overall flavour and elicited a ‘WOW’ from hubbie!
So, without any further ado, here is my recipe for Chicken Liver Pâté.
Enjoy!
Xx Paula
CHICKEN LIVER PÂTÉ
Servings: 4 decent ramekins
Ingredients:
- 2 oz butter, plus extra melted for covering the pâté
- olive oil
- 500g fresh chicken livers
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 juniper berries
- 60ml port or if none to hand, red wine is fine
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 60ml double cream or to taste
- salt and pepper
- paprika
- thyme leaves {dried is fine}
Method:
- Melt the butter in the pan along with some olive oil to stop it burning
- Gently fry the livers, onion, garlic and juniper berries in the butter and oil, covering with a lid so that the mixture doesn’t dry out to much, too quickly {I used a lidded sauté pan}
- After 8-10 minutes, stir in the port or wine along with the cinnamon and reduce the liquid to half its quantity
- Once cooked, put the contents of the pan into a blender and blitz until smooth
- Add the double cream to slacken the mixture and give it a creamy richness. If you prefer, add more cream but in small additions
- Season with salt and pepper
- Next press the mixture through a metal sieve into a bowl before transferring it to the ramekins. This is a bit tedious if not bordering on torturous but worth it as it makes the mixture even smoother
- Finally, cover the top of the pâté with melted butter, add thyme leaves and a dash of paprika
- Refrigerate until the butter has hardened. Your pâté is now ready to serve.
Serve with melba toast or toasted baguette along with some salad leaves and perhaps a fruit chutney if liked.
4 comments on “Chicken Liver Pâté – The Best I’ve Made So Far!”
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Salt, Pepper and a Dollop of Cream 
oh la la … so fancy pate… my mom would love this..i will have to pass along the recipe… lovely post..sarah
Thanks Sarah! Yes, please do pass on the recipe and let me know what your mom thinks! I’d love some feedback! Xx Paula
I love pâté! I always buy them. Never thought about making my own at home. This looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing your lovely recipe.
Thank you Anne! You are so welcome! The pate is so easy to make! I never buy it now. I make up a decent batch and freeze portions in tubs.