The Recipe Room

Fresh ribbons of pasta topped off with soft livers, and plenty of crunch; chestnut spaghetti with chicken livers is an unusually satisfying dish.

Let’s face it; chicken livers are not everybody’s favourite; perhaps they’re one of those things, like Marmite, that you either love or hate! If you’re one of the lovers, you’ll enjoy the combination of the soft livers with the crunch of the chestnuts in this dish. If you’re still not convinced, well, what’s the harm in giving it a try? You might just enjoy it, and livers are packed with nutrients, you know.

If livers really don’t float your boat, you could make this prawn and courgette tagliatelle instead. I recommend fresh pasta for this meal; or for the deeply committed pasta lover, you may want to make it yourself for the most delicate of textures and the best of tastes.

Ah, good old chicken liver paté, a taste from childhood that I’ve only recently rediscovered.  It was only yesterday, in fact, when my daughter and I went over to a friend’s house to play after school.  She and her buddy drank juice, drew great big pictures on a large sheet of paper in green and yellow, and then watched a movie.  And us two mums spread brandied chicken liver paté onto warm slices of wholemeal pitta bread and sipped on a small glass of good red wine in the kitchen, all the while chatting over life, the universe and everything.  An evening very well spent in good company.

You can do a lot with paté. Try this recipe for a multicultural sarnie called a banh mi, using paté as its main ingredient.

There are plenty of great shop-bought patés, but it’s very rewarding making it at home too, so here’s the recipe of the one my friend and I enjoyed yesterday, for you to try.

Ingredients:

• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 250g butter + 60g melted
• 500g chicken livers
• 4 slices of bacon, rind removed and chopped
• A couple of pinches of dried thyme
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 30ml brandy
• 60ml cream
• Fresh ground black pepper to season

For the topping:

• 120g melted butter
• A handful of scissor-cut chives

Steps:

1. Using a large heavy-based saucepan, first melt the butter.  Then add the onion, bacon and garlic; coating everything in the butter and sautéing until the bacon is golden and the onion is softened.
2. Toss in the chicken livers and fry them, moving them about occasionally, for 5-10 minutes.
3. Add the herbs, grind over with plenty of pepper, then stir in the brandy, cream and melted butter.
4. Put the mixture into a blender or food processor and whizz until you obtain a smooth consistency.
5. Turn the mixture out into a serving dish, or dishes.
6. To create the topping, simply pour the melted butter over the surface of the paté and then sprinkle over with the snipped chives.
7. Put the paté in the fridge to cool overnight, removing it from the fridge about half an hour before you are ready to serve it, so that it comes up to room temperature.
8. Wonderful served with hot, toasted and sliced wholemeal pitta bread.
   

Duration: 30 minutes to prepare, 30 minutes to cook

Recipe for: 8 servings