Recipe: Festive chicken liver pâté

WITH all the sickly sweet stuff that tends to be around at Christmas, it’s great to get a savoury gift.

Ingredients

1,5kg chicken livers
400g bacon bits
400g mushrooms
2 onions, finely chopped
400g lard or butter
fresh herbs
chopped garlic
salt
black pepper
150ml old brown sherry (or brandy, if you’re feeling rich)

Method

Put the lard, bacon, onion, herbs and garlic in a saucepan and cook slowly until onion is soft.

Add livers and mushrooms and simmer until livers are cooked through.

Put through a blender, add sherry and season to taste. Divide between containers. This recipe makes a family-size 750ml serving plus 15 x 250ml gift packs. Put in the fridge until firm.

In the days before refrigeration, the surface would be sealed with lard or goose fat to keep the air out and preserve the pâté. Nowadays it’s not strictly necessary, but I usually drizzle melted butter or garlic butter over pâté once it has set.

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