I often and readily admit to being a picky eater. Not in the sense that I won’t try anything new. Far from it. I seek out new food experiences. I am however picky about everything else.
One of the most problematic areas for me in food is texture. There are certain textures that are very off-putting. Though often times, it is not the texture of the article itself that is problematic but rather the difference between the perceived texture based upon appearance versus the actual texture of the item.
Liver is the head of that list. It is meat. It appears solid. And yet when you bite into it, liver is oddly spongy. Almost moussey… and yet dry. YUCK! The blatant disparity of this is enough to turn me right off of liver completely.
But what I actually don’t mind about liver is its taste. I am perfectly happy with the flavor of liver. So how do you reconcile the two? How do you make peace with liking the flavor but nothing else about something?
For me, the answer is pate!
I was a weird child. I refused to eat cooked veggies, turned down sweets in favor of pickles, and relished the flavor of caviar (black of course) and pate. What I never made an association with as a child was that the liver I refused to eat sliced was the same liver I would trade candy for in the form of pate.
And later when I did make the association (right about age 9), I thought that surely a transformation do drastic was a complicated process. One that involved arcane rituals, sacrifices, and perhaps somebody wearing purple robes. In short, a process one undertook in their own homes. At least not without an army of chittery, wooden spoon wielding women who instantly shooed you out if you dared stick your nose anywhere within 10 feet of the kitchen.
My aunt is one of those women. She makes great pate. She is also half a world away and more to the point she is the kind of cook that never measures anything!
So what is a girl to do when she has a craving for pate but lacks her army of matronly kitchen goddeses?
Google of course!
But what googling for pate recipes leads to is a quick understanding that there are just about as many recipes as there are cooks. And that most of those recipes don’t really interest me. Half the recipes I found were for country pate, which while very good in its own right, was not what I was looking for. The other half seemed to be either way to ingredient heavy or had odd ingredients.
I wanted a simple recipe.
And for simple, I always trust in AB!
Digging through food network, I managed to find a recipe that almost fit. His recipe for Chicken Liver Mousse. But it too, was not quite right.
I didn’t want a mousse. I wanted a pate; smooth and slightly firm. So the cream was the first thing to go. Somehow the idea of eating whipped liver just didn’t appeal to me. In another recipe I had seen the use of cream cheese and decided that if the texture needed help I would use that.
The next thing to go was onions. I don’t like them. But more to the point, unless cooked into oblivion, they make me sick. So I can’t have them. But onions bring both flavor and moisture to the party and with liver’s tendency to be dry, moisture was critical. I loved the idea of using apples, both for the sweetness and their iron boost, but I didn’t really want to use enough apples to replace all of the onions. I wanted to use something I could caramelize for an extra boost in flavor. My usual stand buy for replacing onions is mushrooms.
And replacing the onions with mushrooms worked beautifully here. Especially because mushrooms pair so well with thyme. As an added bonus, mushrooms soak up the flavor of what ever they are cooked with.
I was really surprised at how easy and quick making the pate turned out to be. Sent through the food processor the chicken livers, mushrooms, and apples blended together into a soft smooth paste that was just the right combination of light and bite. The thyme was subtle, benefiting greatly from just a leave or two of fresh herb atop the finished dish. And I loved the combination of flavors that deepened during their overnight stay in the refrigerator, though next time I will probably use another apple.
It was exactly what I wad craving.
And I didn’t need to perform a single sacrifice to get it!
Chicken Liver Pate with Mushrooms and Apples
1 pound mushrooms, sliced (I like shitake)
1 or 2 tart apples
2 pound chicken livers
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup cognac (or brandy or calvados or sherry)
1 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves + additional for garnish
Salt and Pepper to taste
Wash the chicken livers in cold running water. Remove any membranes, dark spots, or fat. Set aside.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and thyme. Stirring occasionally, cook the mushrooms until they are golden and caramelized. Do not skimp on this step. Cooking them until they are golden produces a lot of flavor.
Once the mushrooms are ready, reduce the heat to low. Add the apple and cognac and bring up to a simmer. Cover and cook on low heat until the apples are very soft.
Bring the pan back up to medium-high heat and add the livers. Stir carefully so as not to break them up. Cook, turning them gently, until they are barely pink in the center but no pink remains on the outside.
Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool completely.
Once cool, puree in a food processor until completely smooth.
Though it is best the next day, the pate can be served immediately either on toast points or crackers topped with a sprinkle of fresh thyme.
For a smoother pate, stir in a couple of ounces of cream cheese.
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