PATE DE FOIE DE VOLAILLE (text without accent marks) 
(Chicken-liver Pate) 

2 pounds chicken livers 
1 clove garlic, minced 
1 small onion, minced 
1 teaspoon dry sweet basil 
1/4 pound unsalted butter 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/8 teaspoon pepper 
1 teaspoon anchovy paste 
1-1/2 sticks softened unsalted butter (3/4 cup) 
1 tablespoon Cognac 
1 tablespoon Madeira 
1 tablespoon cream sherry 
Melted clarified butter 
3 truffles, minced 
Watercress 
 
     1.  Make pate the day before it is to be served.  Cut livers apart.  Remove fat and white tissue.  Be sure bile sack is removed (it is green and is attached between the two halves).  Saute livers, garlic, onion, and basil in 1/4 pound butter for about 7 minutes.  Do not overcook.
     2.  Lift livers to a plate and cool to room temperature.  Freeze pan liquids to use at a later time.  (When needed add 1/2 cup creme fraiche, or whipping cream, heat, and then thicken with beurre manie.  Flavor with Madeira and Cognac and serve with grilled or roasted chicken.  Call the dish Poulet a la Docteur a la Creme.)
     3.  Put livers into blender container.  Add salt, pepper, anchovy paste, and the 1.5 sticks softened butter.  Pour Cognac, Madeira, and sherry into container.  Whirl to blend.  With a rubber spatula keep the mixture pushed from one side of the blender so that air can get to the bottom.  Heavy mixtures in a blender must breathe or the blades will just whirl and not mix.  Blend.  Taste mixture and adjust seasonings.  Try to make this pate taste like the real goose-liver pate.
     4.  Coat a 3-cup fancy mold with clarified butter.  Put in freezer to harden.  Coat again.  Fill with pate mixture.  If there is pate left, make some small pates.  Cover tight with transparent wrap and refrigerate overnight.
     5.  Next day remove from refrigerator.  Dip mold into warm water.  Dry, set plate over mold and invert.  If molded pate does not drop out, run a knife into the edge of the mold to break the suction.  Pate should then drop out.  If not, dip again in warm water.  Once it is unmolded, with a paint brush coat pate with cool, clarified butter.  Refrigerate until butter hardens.  Add minced truffles to the butter.  Lift truffles from the butter with the brush and spread over the buttered pate.  Refrigerate.
     6.  When you are ready to serve the pate, dip pancake turner into hot water, dry, then slip under pate and lift to serving plate.  Let pate stand at room temperature for about 1 hour before serving.  Decorate plate with watercress and serve with toast points or soda crackers.
back to home page of almalach.com