Pâté Maison

Dear Mom:

I'm sorry we didn't get to make sausage this weekend. But boy did we get a lot of stuff done. Tell Dad thanks for helping finish the wall and for running the gas line. The wall is still standing, I still cannot believe we found all this stone in our yard.



Yesterday I made a pâté out of the chicken livers. Pâté is French for paste, and as a culinary term it could be a dough formula, or meat pie, or as in this case a spreadable paste formed in a terrine.



I had a little over a pound (520g) of chicken livers, along with about 9 ounces (260g) of fat from the smoked ham and a shallot that weighed 2 ounces (60g)

I minced and sauteed the shallot in a little butter then added maybe 2T (30ml) of Fino and cooked it dry (au sec). I chilled the cooked shallots.

Meanwhile I minced the ham fat in the cuisinart added two cold eggs, pulsed, added the chicken livers (rinsed and drained first), pulsed, then added shallots and some seasoning: Salt 1-1/2t (10g), Black pepper 1t (3g), quatre épices 1 1/2t (6g), fresh ground mustard seed 1/2t (2g), and fresh ground coriander 1 t (2g).



I gave that all a quick spin in the food processor then poured it into a muslin lined pan. Topped with fresh bay leaves I cooked the mixture in a water bath in a 325F oven. About forty minutes later the internal temp read 165F, I set it out to cool. I chilled it overnight and had some for breakfast this morning.



Any there you go, a little love on toast. I hope you have nice week thanks and again for coming to visit.

I love you.
Andrew