‘deli’ dinner, marinated beets, dill pickle, olives with fresh lemon zest, and homemade paté

500g (1lb) Chicken Livers 250g (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, chopped, softened 2 large eggs lightly beaten 275ml (about 9.5 oz) ruby port or medium dry sherry 1 tsp sea salt ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1. Trim any sinew from the livers. Set oven temp to 160C (325F)
2. Melt 25g (.9 oz) butter in a non-stick frying pan, add livers then cook over medium heat, turning once, for 2 minutes or until livers have changed colour on the outside but are still quite rare in the middle.
3. In a food processor, process livers, cooking juices, port/sherry, remaining butter, eggs, salt and pepper until very smooth.
4. Using a small ladle, push liver mixture through a fine sieve placed over a bowl.
5. Lightly grease and line a 1 litre capacity loaf pan. Pour sieved chicken liver mixture into prepared pan and place this pan into a roasting pan in the oven. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the side of the loaf tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until just set. It should still be slightly wobbly in the centre. Remove tin from roasting pan, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until firm (leaving it in the loaf tin)

This resulted in a beautiful, soft, perfectly set paté, very simple in flavour, which perfectly accompanies condiments served along with it. I did sprinkle over a few fresh chives which were very nice. * I did not want the gelatine topping on it that the original recipe called for, though it would have looked prettier. I often find I don’t like the flavours in the gelatine toppings. If you would like to make the gelatine topping for a prettier paté, here is the link to the original recipe.