Chicken Liver Pate and Chicken Liver Parfait

OK, this is a recipe which can go one of two ways, a coarse tasty everyday use pate or a silky, creamy, rich decadent parfait for special occassions.

The pate is my mum's amazing recipe, the parfait is my little additions ;)

For the pate and parfait

• 1kg chicken livers
• 2 onions (white for pate, red for parfait), chopped fine
• 2-4 cloves of garlic dependent on taste
• Fresh thyme, or fresh tarragon whichever you wish
• 125ml brandy
• 1 250g packet of butter
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the parfait only

• 1 250g packet of butter
• Small bunch of sage leaves or other large leaf herb
• 50ml double cream

Melba Toast to serve

• 1 loaf medium sliced bread

Parfait only

First need to clarify the butter to make a clear liquid and remove the milk solids. Put one pack of butter in a pan over a very low heat and allow to melt.

Parfait and Pate

Heat oil in a large saute pan, using a high heat cook the onion, garlic and chosen herbs until soft.

Add the chicken livers and cook until coloured on the outside but still pink/red in the middle.

Add the brandy to the pan and allow to bubble to cook the alcohol off. Season with salt and pepper.

Pate only

Put the ingredients into a food processor and using the normal chopping blade, whizz the ingredients up. Chop up the pack of butter and slowly add it to the pate in the processor. Once all added, taste the mix to see whether more salt or pepper needs adding, then pour out into a suitable container or a few containers and chill to set (can be frozen then).

Parfait only

Once the brandy has been cooked through, pour in the double cream and mix well.

Put the ingredients into a food processor with a blender attachment or into a liquidiser. whizz it all up and chop up the packet of butter and slowly add it piece by piece until the mixture is shiny. Taste and season again if you need to.

Once happy with the taste, push the parfait through a sieve to smooth it even more into your chosen container, can use individual ramekins, or a loaf tin, or a bowl. Put into the fridge to chill and set.

Get the pan of clarified butter from the start. Skim the clear oil off the surface using a spoon and put it into another pan on a high heat. Add one of the herb leaves and watch until it starts to bubble and frazzle. Add the rest of the herb leaves and this will make them crispy and snappy.

Decorate the top of the parfait with these leaves and then pour on the clear butter oil to just cover the surface of the pate. Put this back in the fridge to set.

Serve with rocket, a good chutney (pear and ginger, yum yum) and melba toast.

To make the melba toast, cut the crusts off the sliced bread, then put the crustless slices into a toaster just to lightly toast them. Once toasted, carefully using a sharp bread knife, slice them lengthways through the still untoasted dough part in the middle, creating two slices. Do this to all pieces of toast and lay them on trays in the oven (dough side up) at around 160 to 170 degrees for 20-30mins until they start to brown on the dough side and curl up at the edges. Can be kept in an airtight container until needed.

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