Chicken Liver Paté

Here's something you may not know about me, I have an aversion to raw chicken livers.  Yet,  I have no trouble putting it away in its paté state. There you have it, my filthy little secret.

Dears, this homemade stuff is so good, I urge you to make it, yesterday!
Observe.

Ok, maybe not the best example.  Chicken Liver Paté remains the ugly stepsister of the appetizer world. So,  cover up  its hideousness with lots of fresh herbs, and  trust me on this.
Serve it with toasted Brioche, or  toasted baguette slices. Bliss.

Chicken  Liver  Pâté

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 pound chicken livers, trimmed and halved
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
1½ tablespoons minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
1½ teaspoons minced fresh sage leaves, or ½ teaspoon dried
1 cup tawny port
Additional kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, or  to taste

 Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion  and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Transfer to a food processor. Increase  heat to medium-high and add 3 more tablespoons of  butter to the skillet. Add the chicken livers, and cook, stirring, until the exteriors are no longer pink, about 2 minutes.

Add the salt, pepper, thyme and sage. Cook until the livers are lightly browned, but still slightly pink inside, about 1 minute longer. Add the contents of the skillet to the food processor with the onions.


Remove skillet from the heat and pour in the tawny port. Return skillet to the stove and bring to a boil over high heat, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Boil until slightly thickened, and reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Add  to the food processor with the liver and onions.  Add  the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter.  Pour in the lemon juice and process until smooth. Season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary. Adapted from, Sara Moulton's Cooks at Home.

Pâté can be molded in a plastic wrap lined mold, covered and chilled 3 hours, or overnight.  Can be made 3 days in advance.    

And this Thanksgiving,  let us  put into practice an old Okinawan saying:
Hara Hachi Bu = Eat until you're 80% full. 

      
Thankfully, I have the attention span of a caffeinated Chihuahua, so I'll read it, later.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends!