‘Gotta Have It’ Chicken Liver Pate

Liver, a ‘traditional food’, is very nourishing yet does not have a presence in most modern households. If you have never given liver a chance, this is a great way to try it.

The video we made is for a 'vanilla' version of pate'  Jack thinks its pretty good like that, but Betsy really prefers the extra ingredients in the 'gotta have it' version below. 

'Vanilla' Pate

Ingredients

• 8 Tablespoons butter
• 1-2 cup yellow onion, sliced
• 1 pound organic chicken livers
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Makes about 1 ½ cups

Directions:

1. In a large heavy skillet, melt about half of the butter and cook the onions and shallot over low to medium heat until browned and caramelized. 
2. When they are deep golden brown, transfer to a food processor. 
3. Add remaining butter to the pan and add the liver when the pan is hot, but not smoking. Sear the liver on all sides, turning as needed. Cook the livers until they are medium rare, not all the way through.  Well done livers taste terrible. 
4. Season the liver with salt and pepper, remove from pan and place in food processor.
5. Process all together until smooth.
6. Adjust seasonings to taste with salt and optional fresh ground black pepper. 
7. Serve with crusty bread. 

Consider adding any of these ingredients:

• Herbs: Thyme, Rosemerry, etc
• Roasted, fresh or sautéd garlic
• Sautéd Mushrooms 
• Any form of sweet alcohol
• Water to lighten up texture 
• Toasted pine nuts

Gotta Have It

Ingredients

• 8 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup yellow onion, sliced
• 2 Tablespoons minced shallot
• 2-3 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of a chef’s knife
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 pound organic chicken livers
• ¼ cup sherry or port
• 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Makes about 2 cups

Directions:

1. In a large heavy skillet, melt about half of the butter and cook the onions and shallot over low to medium heat until browned and caramelized.
2. When they are deep golden brown, add the garlic, mushrooms, and thyme and cook until the mushrooms are tender.
3. Add salt and black pepper and transfer to a food processor.
4. Add remaining butter to the sauté pan and add the liver when the pan is hot, but not smoking. Sear the liver on all sides, turning as needed. Cook the livers until they are medium rare, not all the way through. Well done livers taste terrible.
5. Season the liver with salt and pepper, remove from pan and place in food processor.
6. Deglaze the pan with the sherry and red wine vinegar and add to the chicken livers.
7. Add to the food processor. Process all together until smooth.
8. Adjust seasonings to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper.
9. Serve with crusty bread.

Store in the refrigerator and eat within a week.

Cooking Tip

The cooking video above talks about the importance of cooking your liver medium rare.  The following short clip shows the difference between several different pieces of liver that have been cooked from rare to medium well to give you a sense of what to look for. You're looking for something past 'red', but not fully cooked either.  

It is really important that your livers are NOT cooked past medium or they will taste bad instead of fantastic. Obviously eating less than well-done cooked meats like this poses a similar risk of exposure to bacteria as eating a medium-rare steak, so take that into consideration. We make sure our livers are used right after thawing so there is less risk of bacteria growth. 

NOTE: If you're buying chicken livers in the store or farmer's market, they are most likely from factory farm genetics that have pasty brown livers instead of the nice healthy ones from our chickens. It really makes a difference to get the slow growth birds we raise.