Pâté is one of my favourite foods. Liver Pâté is awesome, but liver is not! I love that something so gross can become something so delicious! It makes an excellent starter or a delicious light lunch, and gets some much needed iron into my diet!
I have made these in preparation for Christmas entertaining and also, for personal indulgence! Making the mini ones make such an easy starter option. They can be frozen and defrosted the day before you have guests, which makes them a brilliant make ahead option. The recipe itself is so so easy, no faffy cooking and water bathing, you use the microwave to cook this, making it the quickest, easiest Pâté ever! You can make it the day before or even the morning of your event leaving you to focus on other things, like having fun!
I have to admit that making pate is pretty gross… like, really gross, from a visual perspective! But you don’t need to touch anything, it’s all bunged in the microwave and out of sight for the really gross bits, but fair warning for the squeamish amongst us!
Makes ~ 4 ramekins (I did 2 small terrines and 5 little pots for starters)
30g dried porcini mushrooms
125g smoked bacon lardons
225g chicken livers (Defrosted)
100g butter (can use salted or unsalted, just be cautious on adding extra salt if using salted)
1 clove garlic, crushed (I use garlic puree, about 1 tsp)
2 tbsp cream
2 tbsp marsala wine
1 tsp herbes de provence
1/2 tsp pepper
pinch salt
~100g salted butter (If you are making lots of smaller portions then you may need more butter, if you are making one large dish then you may need less.)
sage leaves to decorate
– Put the dried porcini in a small bowl and just cover with boiling water. Set aside.
– Put the bacon in a medium sized microwavable bowl.
– Microwave on full for 1 minute.
– Add the livers, the butter and the garlic.
– Microwave for 2 1/2 minutes.
– Drain off the mushrooms and add to the bowl, give everything a good stir.
– Microwave for a further 2 1/2 minutes.
– Add the cream, marsala, herbes, pepper and salt.
– Using a stick blender (or decanting into a food processor) blend everything together, I like to leave it a little coarse but you can puree until utterly smooth if you prefer.
– Pour into your chosen serving dishes.
– Melt the salted butter and pour over the pate.
– Press a fresh sage leaf into the butter to decorate.
– Leave to cool until the butter is completely set, then refrigerate until needed. You can also wrap and freeze it at this point.
Anna in the kitchen 