This. This is the best chicken liver pate I’ve ever had.
It’s so good I actually look forward to eating it. (It is liver, after all.) For the past two years, I’ve been experimenting with recipes. Until now, it never tasted quite right, but all that has changed, my friend!
I made this for a friend the other week and wanted it to be extra tasty, so naturally I upped my A-game–that means I added bacon to the recipe, of course! Did you know bacon makes everything taste better?
My friend and her son weren’t liver fans–actually my son wasn’t either– so I hoped to prove them wrong. And guess what?!
By the time I was smoothing the pate into ramekins my two-year-old son was dipping his fingers into the creamy deliciousness. I couldn’t stop him…nor did I want to. He loved the smooth texture and mildly sweet, earthy flavor.
That day I handed over the ramekins of pate sealed with clarified butter to my friend, who had similar results with her son. And that’s when I decided…this is the best chicken liver pate ever.
The Best Chicken Liver Pate
Ingredients
1 lb. chicken livers, trimmed of any sinew
3 slices of bacon
2 Tbsp. minced shallots
1 medium apple, cored, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
1/4 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper
pinch of thyme
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1/4 cup cognac, optional
1.5 cup clairified butter, preferably from grass-fed cows (see directions HERE)
Directions
In a medium skillet, saute bacon over medium heat. Once the bacon is crisp, remove it from the skillet and set it aside. Discard all but 2 Tbsp. of the bacon grease in the skillet.
Over medium heat, add shallots to your same skillet and cook until soft and translucent. Add the apple, chopped sage and thyme and cook until the apple is softened.
Add the livers to the skillet and cook for about 3-5 minutes. The livers should be brown on the outside, but a little pink in the middle.
Pour in the cognac and let the mixture simmer until most of the liquid cooks off (about 5 minutes). Then turn off the heat and let cool.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor and pulse a few times, then add the bacon to the food processor. Process the liver mixture continuously and slowly pour in the 2 Tbsp. of cream, followed by 1 cup of clairified butter.
Spread the pate into ramekins and pour more clarified butter on top as a seal. Refrigerate.
I love to keep a dish of the pate in the fridge and spread the chicken liver pate over carrot slices whenever I need a no fuss lunch. Which is…always.
Ps. Pate is best when served at room temperature. Let it sit out of the fridge for about 20 minutes before gourging yourself on this decadent treat.
Bon Appetite! xo, Allison
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