Pate (Faux Gras with Chicken Livers)

You know, there just is no way to nicely photograph liver. No matter what I do, it just looks like grayish-brown mush. Fortunately, pate tastes way, way better than it looks. Also fortunately, by cleverly staging a glass of wine and a crusty baguette, you'll start thinking of French food and be distracted from the grayish-brown mush? :P




I hadn't really planned on making my own pate, but when I saw a half pound container of chicken livers on sale for only 50 cents, it was just too good of a deal to pass up. I also knew that I wanted to make a savory pate with a Vietnamese flavor since I wanted to add it to banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches). So that meant omitting the usual French seasonings of thyme and other herbs.

I soaked the chicken livers overnight in soy milk (although regular milk would work fine too) to cut down on the liveriness, if you will. I added a stick of butter to mix with the cooked livers to cut down even more of the liveriness. The result was a nice, buttery smooth flavor.

Half a pound of livers doesn't seem like a lot but this recipe makes enough for three or four ramekins. I gave some away and froze the rest. The pate will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Pate (Faux Gras with Chicken Livers)

For 3 or 4 ramekins, you'll need:
1/2 lb chicken livers
1 cup milk or soy milk
1/2 cup white wine or 1 tblsp cognac
1 small onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Nuoc Mam (Vietnamese Fish Sauce)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 stick or 1/2 cup butter, and additional 1/2 stick butter

I know you like the step-by-step photos but even I have my limits and raw chicken liver is soooo not appetizing. So first, wash the chicken livers and remove any excess white or yellow membrane stuff or whatever that is. Wash again. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt over the chicken livers and mix thoroughly. Then pour enough soy milk or regular milk over the livers to cover. Refrigerate overnight.

The next day, rinse the livers and chop into smaller pieces. Set aside.

Saute one small diced onion and six cloves of garlic. Don't worry if they aren't too uniform as everything gets pureed anyway.




When the onions have slightly softened, add the chopped livers and 1/2 cup white wine. Saute until cooked and continue simmering for another 5 minutes or so until liquid reduces. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp fish sauce, and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper. Taste and season if necessary. Then set mixture aside to slightly cool.




When the liver mixture has cooled enough, but is still warm, puree in a food processor. Chop one stick of butter into big chunks and add that to the food processor. The butter should easily melt and blend with the warm liver mixture.




Puree again until smooth.




Pour into ramekins. I poured mine into two ramekins and one small plastic container to freeze for later. Put the pate into the fridge for about an hour to set until slightly firm.




Then add just enough butter to coat the top of each container. I used Shedd's Spread Country Crock for this so that I wouldn't have to wait for the butter to soften if I wanted to spread the pate right when I pulled it from the fridge. The butter also serves to seal the pate so it doesn't form a film or harden. Also, this way each time you take some pate to spread on the bread, you also get butter. Pate + butter = gooood.




Eat plain spread on French bread.




Or as a filling for banh mi.




Enjoy!

Some Vietnamese recipes for you to eat with the pate:
Banh Mi Thit Heo Nuong (Vietnamese Grilled Pork Sandwich)
Banh Mi Xa Xiu (Vietnamese Barbecued Pork Sandwich)
Banh Mi Xiu Mai (Vietnamese Meatball Sandwich)
Bo "Ne" Bit Tet (Vietnamese "Stand Back" Beef Steak)

Who else made chicken liver pate?
Amy of Nook and Pantry seasoned hers with thyme.

*****
1 year ago today, a teppanyaki show at Shogun Japanese Restaurant - Pasadena.