Chicken liver pate

One of my mother's classic dinner party specials this one with only a few deviations to reflect the actuality of the fridge contents.

• 500g chicken livers, rinsed cleaned and roughly chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• Chopped garlic clove or 2
• 5 slices smoked streaky bacon
• 2 bay leaves
• 50 g butter
• scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
• salt & pepper
• tbsp pudding wine
• tbsp sour cream

Saute garlic and onion in butter until softened and translucent.  Add de-rinded roughly chopped bacon and cook together with bay leaves until fragrant and cooked through for 3 to 4 mins.  Then stir in the chopped livers along with a good shake of cinnamon.   Cook for a further 5 to 8 mins.

In a moulinex, blend the the contents of the pan (having removed the bay leaves).  Then push the contents through a sieve to remove the fibrous bits of onion and stringy bits of liver (yuck!).  Stir in tablespoon of pudding wine - I had some muscat in the fridge - and a tbspoon of sour cream.  Beat well together, test for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Put neatly into a bowl, wipe the gunk off one of the choicest bay leaves and place elegantly on the top of the pate.

If you like, melt (and if you're feeling super precise, clarify) some butter, and pour over the top of the pate to cover it.  Very pretty.  But I didn't do that, I just left it au nature.

Put in fridge for good few hours to set and settle.

Magic with melba toast (so fancy, and so white trash), toasted pitta strips or scooped up with crudites.

Very popular with the peeps.  And it improves as you keep it.  Had the fag end of it for supper last night and very splendid it was too.

Comments

[pommiefoodie]

Squeeee!!! She's back! And the pate was indeed 'licious!