Pâté is traditional menu fare at any French Bistro or Brasserie worth the name. Stuff pâté in a chicken breast or a Cognac-poached prune and it elevates to haute cuisine. Each region of France has its own variations. Duck and certainly calves' liver appear in many. The Dordogne is famous for fois gras made from goose liver. But for price and availability of the star ingredient, the best buy has to be chicken liver. Two variations are presented here: one spiked with Cognac, the other with Marsala.
No mysterious French cuisine here. The preparation is dead-easy and perfect for making ahead, even a day or two before your party. Chicken livers are sautéed quickly then puréed with butter in a food processor. Even with a few more ingredients in the second recipe, the preparation should take less than 30 minutes.
You Will Need: (For either recipe) Food Processor
Brandied Chicken Liver Pâté
- 1/2 cup butter, divided
- 1 lb chicken livers
- 1 small sprig fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 Tbsp Cognac (or other brandy)
- Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
- In a large skillet over high heat, melt 2 Tbsp of butter. Add the chicken livers and herbs. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the livers are crisp outside but still a bit pink inside, about 3 minutes.
- Remove and discard the herbs. Add a splash of brandy to deglaze the pan and transfer the livers and pan juices to the bowl of your food processor.
- Process until smooth. Add the remaining butter and brandy and process a few seconds longer. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Scrape into serving dish (or individual ramekins). Cover with plastic wrap and let it firm up in the refrigerater for a few hours.
About Cognac: Perhaps the most famous and arguably the best brandy in the world, this distilled wine comes from the small town of the same name near the coast of the Bay of Biscay. In the seventeenth century, Cognac was bustling with shipments of salt and wine. The wine was much in demand by Dutch and English trading partners, but it would often go bad before reaching home. To prevent this a vintner named Croix-Marrons reheated his wine and distilled it again and stored it in oak barrels. To their delight, merchants found that the “twice burned” wine improved with age rather than going off.
Rustic Chicken Liver Pâté with Pistachios
While classic pâtés like the one above are creamy smooth, this version is dubbed “rustic” because of the several added ingredients that give the pâté texture and crunch as well as a wonderful complexity of flavors. See if you don’t fall in love with this variation.
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- 8 oz chicken livers, chopped
- 1 tsp chopped fresh sage
- 1/4 cup marsala (or sherry or Madeira)
- 2 anchovy filets, drained and coarsely chopped
- 1 Tbsp capers, drained
- 1/4 cup shelled pistachios plus 2 Tbsp chopped for garnish
- Freshly ground pepper
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the celery and garlic and cook two minutes.
- Turn the flame up to high and add the chicken livers. Cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the livers are crisp outside but still a bit pink inside, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the sage and deglaze briefly with the marsala. Transfer all to the bowl of your food processor.
- Add the anchovies, capers and whole pistachios. Process until fairly smooth, but not puréed. Taste and adjust the seasoning. The anchovies are salty enough that you should not need to add more salt.
- Transfer to your serving dish and serve warm or at room temperature. Serve with thin slices of toasted baguette or dress it up by using it to fill individual endive leaves. Garnish with the chopped pistachios.
- Chicken Liver Pâté with Port and Pistachios
- Parsleyed Chicken Liver and Mushroom Custard.
- Chicken Liver Pâté with Walnuts, Bacon and Armagnac
Larry Ervin - Foodie, self-taught cook and cookbook addict, I never met a recipe I didn't want to twist, simplify, add or switch out ingredients.
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