Chicken Liver Pate with Caramelised Onions

Tue, 20 December 2016

Serves 10

450g butter (softened)

675g chicken livers, cleaned

2 tbsp brandy

2 garlic cloves

2 tsp thyme

For the caramelised onions:

20g butter

2 onions, sliced

1 tbsp brown mustard seeds

Melt a knob of the butter in a frying pan and add the chicken livers. Cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the chicken livers are cooked, there should be no trace of redness in the meat. Transfer them to a food processor.

Add the brandy, garlic and thyme to the frying pan and deglaze by scraping up all the tiny pieces of meat and juices from the livers using a whisk - the bottom of the pan is where the real flavour is! Add the brandy mixture to the food processor and blend with the livers. Leave to cool.

While the livers are cooling, make the caramelised onions. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the onions. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and leave to sweat for about 5 minutes. Then remove the lid, turn up the heat and stir in the mustard seeds. Continue cooking until the onions have softened and become rich and brown in colour. Leave to cool.

Slowly add the remaining butter to the cooled chicken liver mixture and mix until all the butter has blended. Fold in the caramelised onions. Transfer the chicken liver and onion mixture to a large dish and leave to set in the fridge for at least 3 hours. This pâté is delicious served with hot crunchy white bread.