Homemade Chicken Liver Parfait
I admit I'm not a big fan of liver pate. I don't refuse it completely, but I wouldn't say I cook it very often (not to mention buying it!). First of all, I don't like the intense liver taste and the rather dense texture. But, in the last year, I've changed my opinion thanks to the recipe below - now I have a wonderful, fine, fluffy homemade pate, or parfait, with a moderate liver taste. And it's very tasty.
Many people call this recipe "fake foie gras", because of the texture and taste very close to the classic foie gras. In fact, I even found this method while searching on Youtube for suggestions on how to cook foie gras correctly. So I put the finery aside and I did well. Now we can eat "foie gras" at home, but at a much more reasonable price and with minimal effort!
I've been experimenting with the ingredients for almost 1 year and I stayed with the most basic. Don't overdo it with the additions and spices because they will conceal the taste of the main ingredients. If you don't have a small ceramic or glass dish, you can put it in the oven in jars. Another solution would be to double the quantities and use a classic loaf tin for baking. In this case, the excess can be portioned and frozen (I tested it, it stays wonderfully!).
Furthermore, this pate recipe is wonderful in a low-carb diet, I combine it with flax bread and I enjoy it without remorse whenever I feel like!
First of all, I suggest that you decide in which dish you will prepare the pate:
- I chose a little ceramic dish (Ikea, if I remember correctly), 13x11cm and 5cm deep;
- another option would be to make it in jars of any size you prefer, but it's better if they are small;
- another idea would be to use the classic loaf tin, but double the amounts. If you have a large family, this is not a problem. You can also portion and freeze the extra pate so that you will enjoy it whenever you want.
Whichever pan you choose, be sure to grease it well on the inside with some softened butter.
Try to remove the connective tissue from the chicken livers. Don't insist too much, only the biggest and obvious parts.
After cleaning, I had 250g of livers left.
Place livers in a deep bowl, add eggs and cooking cream.
Add salt, ground pepper and some ground nutmeg if you have and like it.
Now mix everything well with a hand blender.
Pour the mixture into the dish prepared at step 1. I recommend passing it through a sieve before - this way the pate comes out finer and without the connective tissue bits, which don't look very nice.
Use a spoon to make the process easier.
Now place the dish with the pate in it into another, larger dish. Fill with cold water half way up.
Cover with foil or a lid.
Place in the preheated oven for 45 minutes at 160 degrees C.
After 45 minutes, check the pate with a toothpick. If it doesn't come out clean, leave it in the oven for another 10-15 minutes.
Notice it's pinker and more liquid in the middle, it's obviously not ready.
After another 10 minutes, it's baked and it looks like this. Voila, the toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Notice it rises a bit when baked.
After 10 minutes, it sinks and this will be its final shape.
Now, to avoid oxidation, but also for an extra taste/aroma, pour hot melted butter over the top of the parfait.
Allow to cool completely at room temperature.
Then cover with cling film/lid and refrigerate for a few hours.
