-
1
Several hours or the night before you want to make the pate, pour over dry sherry to cover the chicken livers and allow to marinate in the refrigerator.
-
2
Once livers have marinated, discard the sherry and dry the livers a bit by pouring into a strainer and giving it a good shake over the sink.
-
3
In a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onions and saute till soft, about 7 minutes.
-
4
Add chicken livers and seasonings (salt, pepper, turmeric, paprika and nutmeg) and saute 10 minutes or till cooked through.
-
5
Scrape everything into a blender and allow to cool a bit. Meanwhile, turn up the heat under the skillet and deglaze the pan with 1/3 cup of sherry. Add this to blender, too.
-
6
Add remaining 5 Tablespoons of butter to the mixture and secure blender lid (I hold a dishcloth in my hand and keep that hand on the lid - just in case!)
-
7
Puree mixture till very smooth, adding a bit more butter or sherry, as needed.
-
8
Pour mixture into a pretty serving dish, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool and set in the fridge.
-
9
Serve with crackers, toasted baguette slices, gherkin pickles, chopped onion, etc. If you want to make canapes, the pate can be put into a pastry bag and piped onto toast rounds or endive leaves. It's especially tasty piped into pitted dates.
-
10
To make my most recent version of this pate, substitute dry rose wine for the sherry and use 1 1/2 lbs chicken livers, skipping the mushrooms. Also add the zest of one lemon and 1 Tablespoon minced fresh dill to the mixture in the blender, omitting the turmeric, paprika and nutmeg in the recipe.
