Chicken liver pate

I recently made Delia Smith's Autentic Ragu Bolognaise again (it is still the most amazing ragu sauce recipe) and as per last time when I made chicken liver crostini, I had chicken livers leftover that I just couldn't throw out.

This time, I decided to try one of my favourite restaurant appetisers - chicken liver pate. Of course, I was completely disorganised, so had to find a recipe with ingredients I already had or could easily obtain in my local neighbourhood at 4pm on a Sunday (we have no large supermarket in the immediate vicinity). I decided to go with another Delia recipe, but with a few changes. I used nutmeg instead of mace, and despite going to 6 local shops, had to use prepared mustard instead of mustard powder.

The recipe required a bit of tasting and adjusting to balance the brandy, mustard and seasoning, but we were happy with the flavour in the end and I was particularly impressed with my cheat's version of clarified butter on top (I just held the spoon against the butter solids when pouring the melted butter from the frying pan onto the pates - worked really well!). The recipe made a lot, so we ate chicken liver pate several times for a week. Luckily, it was really good - smooth, rich and packed full of flavour. It was best with toasted brown bread (we also tried crackers) and was best once fully chilled but taken out of the fridge for 30 minutes to bring it up to room temperature.

I always suspected the reason this is on so many menus is because it is cheap, easy and really tasty. It definitely is all those things. The question now is whether I'll keep ordering it out when I know I can make it myself (and I know how much butter is in it)!

Chicken Liver Pate
Delia Online
Serves 6

225g chicken livers, rinsed, patted dry and trimmed
2 tablespoons cognac
2 level teaspoons mustard powder
1/4 level teaspoon ground mace
1 level teaspoon chopped thyme, plus extra for garnish
2 cloves garlic, crushed
salt and pepper

To make the pâté, take a medium-sized, heavy-based frying pan, melt about 25g of the butter in it and fry the chicken livers over a medium heat for about 5 minutes. Keep them on the move, turning them over quite frequently. Then remove them from the pan using a draining spoon and transfer them to a blender or food processor.

Now, in the same pan, gently melt 150g of the remaining butter and add this to the blender or food processor. Then pour the brandy on to the juices left in the frying pan (to capture all the lovely flavours), and pour that over the livers.

Now add the mustard, mace, thyme and garlic, season well with salt and freshly milled black pepper, and blend until you have a smooth, velvety purée.

Next, divide the between 6 ramekins (or pots). Then melt the remaining 50g of butter, pour a little over each one to seal, press in a sprig of thyme, and leave them to get quite cold.

Cover with clingfilm and leave them in the fridge till needed. Serve with toasted brown bread, cut into triangles.