Chicken Liver Pate a La Jacques Pepin

"This method of preparing the pate is new to me but since I love chicken livers - we tried it anyway. We were very pleasantly surpirsed! Served with pita chips, cocktail rye or any other crackers it is wonderful! Who needs crackers - it tasted awesome! From Everyday Cooking with Jacques Pépin This originally appeared in the March, 2007 edition of Food & Wine." This silky-smooth pâté is inexpensive and simple to make. The chicken livers are briefly simmered in water with aromatics before they’re blended with butter in a food processor. If you have the opportunity to choose, shop for paler chicken livers; they tend to have a mellower, richer flavor than deep-red ones." Thinking about serving this for Passover, it will be a change; however, haven't decided yet - perhaps I'll stick with my old recipe!"
 
Download
photo by a food.com user photo by a food.com user
Ready In:
24hrs 35mins
Ingredients:
11
Serves:
6-8
Advertisement

ingredients

Advertisement

directions

  • In a medium saucepan, combine the chicken livers, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
  • Add the water and bring to a simmer; cover, reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the livers are barely pink inside, about 3 minutes.
  • Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
  • Discard the bay leaf.
  • Using a slotted spoon, transfer the livers, onion and garlic to a food processor; process until coarsely pureed.
  • With the machine on, add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, until incorporated.
  • Add the Cognac, season with salt and pepper and process until completely smooth.
  • Scrape the pâté into 2 or 3 large ramekins; press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pâté and refrigerate until firm.
  • Serve chilled.
  • Enjoy!

Questions & Replies

Got a question? Share it with the community!
Advertisement

Reviews

  1. I learned this recipe way back in 1980 while a stagiare at La Varenne. Then, he slowly poached the livers for 7 minutes, not 3 (perhaps French livers 40 years ago were different) and the butter was doubled -- 3 sticks/3/4 lb per 1 lb livers. Chef Pepin also specified refrigerating it 10-12 hours (or overnight) before serving -- which allows the flavours to mature. BTW: why in the world would anyone substitute margarine over real butter. Margarine is a processed fat and its health benefits fanciful, at best... Natural is always best.
     
  2. This is indeed an excellent recipe created by Jacque Pepin. I really don't understand the necessity of copying it verbatim here since it is easily found on the Food & Wine thread. A note to all - NEVER substitute margarine for ANYTHING especially in a quality recipe. I have made this basic recipe many times to rave reviews. I use a high quality Irish butter and Hennessey cognac. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Because of the suggested margarine substitution, I must rate you a 1 - it must be your shame to bear... ;-)
     
  3. I just made this using dried Thyme, sea salt and Curvoisier brandy. Proportions according to the recipe. It is very mild and nice but I think it would be just perfect with fresh thyme, next time I will try just that.
     
  4. So smooth paté! But then, there is more butter than chicken livers in this decadent recipe. Very classy appetiser with Champagne, simply served on slices of crusty baguett. Onion jam goes really nicely with this, too. Or if I had some black truffles, I would chop some in the paté.
     
Advertisement

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>Hello all, thank you for visiting My Page but forgive me for&nbsp;it is a work in progress! :) As I am sure you have noticed I changed my Chef Name to Manami which means love &amp; beauty. ;) Just thought I should get with the program - my geisha &amp; my icon! :) Don't fret, I won't change it again! <br /><br />I am 70 years young and I live in a nursing home, which is out of this world, I am treated like a princess and the world is my oyster! I have a private room and during the season I do taxes for most of the staff, as well as my personal clients that have been following me since I left the business world about 25 years ago. I was rear-ended by a van and it turned my whole world upside down. Why dwell on that? <br /><br />I am an American Jew (from NYC) who moved to Havana, Cuba when I was 2 1/2 years old, lived there until a few days after Castro took over and vamoosed it out of that country as fast as my legs would carry me! I&nbsp;was on a forced hiatus from the UofM, due to illness. <br /><br />From there my sister, mother and I went to NYC to work and my father went to Haiti in Port-Au-Prince, where he and my uncle had purchased some tiny cocoa plantations &amp; a chocolate factory - for the choccolate liquer - to make baking chocolate (the real bitter stuff). We joined my father about 2 months later where I spent 2 of the most carefree &amp; wonderful years of my life! It is the stuff that movies are made of! (A la Grace Kelly - even my clothes were like hers)&gt;&nbsp;</p> <p>I then continued my studies in upstate NY and hated it because it was too, too cold!:( Went back to NYC to work and see what I wanted to do with my life - I was all of 20 years old and had to drop out of school because of illness and then because of the weather! Yuck - so I got a job in a Textile Buying Office as a receptionist and soon I found myself buying trimmings! Loved it and was very happy with the work I was doing. <br /><br />However, I got an offer from two young guys who had a factory in Cleveland, Ohio, where they made Maternity Clothes and they wanted me to be in charge of the shipping dept, keep inventory and in my spare time - help with the designing!! I couldn't pass it up - the offer sounded so great and the salary was twice what I was making in the NYC. So I went to Cleveland, got married, had both my children and got a divorce 15 years later. <br /><br />Then my children and I moved to South Florida and have been here since 1978, I can't count that far back :) <br /><br />Learned how to do taxes with H&amp;R Block and worked simultaneously&nbsp;as a Supervisor in 2 offices&nbsp;for them for 15 years. Then after the accident everything went spiralling downwards until I could no longer walk alone even with a walker - so the next step was a wheelchair. Stayed at home with a lot of help (nurses, PT therapists) fixed the bathroom so I could bathe myself and fixed the kitchen so I could help warm-up meals (was taught how to cook in rehab) and so forth and so on. <br /><br />However, the fire department had other plans for me, I called them too often to pick me up off the floor - how embarassing! So they gave me a choice - either a home or they would have to call HRS! :( (very sad) <br /><br />It was there, in my home where I was robbed! <img title=Cry src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-cry.gif border=0 alt=Cry />&nbsp;All my cookbooks (all my Julia Childs Cookbooks, my Settlement Cookbook which had been my mothers - published in 1939 - with all her notes) my mother's cookbooks from Cuba &amp; Haiti, all my handwritten recipes. They also took all my Delft collection, some antiques that I had in the kitchen like my rolling pin, a beautiful old &amp; used wooden bowl, a charcoal-iron that was brought north when my parents left Haiti, it was hand-painted &amp; was gorgeous, as well as all the other things that are too numerous to mention! <br /><br />That proved to be the last straw &amp; from there it was an ALF,<img title=Yell src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-yell.gif border=0 alt=Yell /> which was horrible, and then on to another home where the administrator of that home became the administrator here and voila, here I am. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /></p> <p>I have a beautiful large private room with a private&nbsp;bath, furnished to my liking: eclectic!&nbsp;<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /> My room is large enough to house my office and all the other odds and ends with which I like to surround myself.<br /><br />During tax season, mostly, my room is always full (of course I love it that way)! I have a blanket&nbsp;my daughter bought for me in New Mexico and that is on my bed. You guessed it - that is where everbody sits or on my great grandfather's arm chair which is in great shape. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile />&nbsp;Update 01/11/2008 that time is here again :) Have started doing taxes already and not just regular taxes but corporations, partnerships and 1040X - ammended returns! Whoopee! I love the feeling I get when this time comes around and I get into gear!!! I love it! :) <br /><br />The head chef, the kitchen supervisor &amp; the dietician enjoy the recipes from Zaar; the ones that I post, as well as, the others. We are in the process of changing the menu right now - so we have been doing a lot of figuring. The administrator is so cute because every once in a while she asks for a recipe and then she gives me a pack of paper so I can print them. <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /><br /><br />I am president of the resident council and most of the family members come to me to take care of their grievances - this way I do my part - and the staff can take care of the larger problems! It has been working for 10 years - why change if it ain't broke?<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /></p> <p>Well, it's time to say hasta luego folks. <img title=Laughing src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-laughing.gif border=0 alt=Laughing /><br /><br /></p>
 
View Full Profile
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Find More Recipes