Chicken Liver Pate

I'd been meaning to make pate for ages, maybe like seven years or so. My mate Ciara told me her Mum makes it and that it was gorgeous, before that I just assummed I could only get it out as a starter or from the deli in Superquinn when I was feeling fancy. Really in truth I didn't want to be handling raw chicken livers.

So one Sunday there I roped my pate-loving father into the mix and got him to purchase the liver and hold my hand as I brought it all together.

You'll need......

350g chicken livers
2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
4 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of cognac or brandy
150g of butter, salted is grand

You'll need to.......

Soak the livers in a bowl of milk and water and salt for an hour and then rinse and pat dry. Check for any funny bits or discolouration.

Fry them up on the pan until they're cooked through and blitz in the blender.

Without washing the pan throw on the alcohol and then the thyme and garlic and fry at a medium heat for about a minute and add this to the liver paste and blitz. You'll start getting all the aromas now. The thyme really makes it so does the cognac.

Then just add in the butter and whisk it all up until smooth, make sure the butter is soft before blitzing.

Leave to cool in the fridge. I'd consume it that day or the next and it's nice served as part of an antipasta or on really fresh crisp bread with a sundried tomato on top.

Got this thyme from my parents' garden. I don't even have a balcony :( But they said it grows quick-smart and with little to no attention. A keeper.



And here we are...... look how much all those ingredients yield?