Swap out the sage for other classic herbs like thyme or marjoram. By crisping up frumpy old herbs, you can turn them into something beautiful.
Jamie's Cook-Ahead Christmas
By Jamie Oliver
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- Silky pâté
50 mins plus setting
Not Too Tricky
serves 12
About the recipe
This silky smooth pâté is super-satisfying to make. The ingredients are cheap, you get an amazing freshness and you have complete control on flavour, so you can pimp it and make it really luxurious. It makes a great gift, too.
Ingredients
500g unsalted butter
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
½ a bunch of fresh thyme (15g)
1kg free-range chicken livers, cleaned, trimmed
1 whole nutmeg, for grating
150ml brandy
½ a bunch of fresh sage (15g)
Top Tip
Pop a few pink peppercorns on top of the chilled pâté with the sage leaves for extra colour and flavour.
Method
- To make your clarified butter, place 250g of butter in a pan on a very low heat and let it slowly melt, then tick away until it separates. Use a ladle to remove the golden butter from the top into a separate small pan, leaving the milk solids behind.
- Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic and place in a large pan on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil and the leftover milk solids. Strip in the thyme leaves and fry fast for 5 minutes, tossing regularly, until soft and starting to colour. Add the chicken livers and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then finely grate in half the nutmeg. Cook for 4 minutes, or until the livers are blushing pink in the middle – don’t overcook them. Add the brandy to the pan for the last minute and let it cook off, ideally flaming it, if you feel confident enough to do so.
- Tip everything straight into a food processor or blender with all the juices, and blitz until smooth. You’ll notice that the smell changes straight away. Taste and season to perfection, then add a little more because the seasoning seems to reduce when it gets cold, which is how you’ll serve it. Dice the remaining butter, add to the processor or blender and blitz until silky smooth and the mixture starts to shine. Taste again to check the seasoning, then whiz for a final 2 minutes. You can serve the pâté in individual terrines or in a big bowl or platter. Pop into the fridge, covered with a sheet of greaseproof paper, until set.
- Put the pan of golden butter on a medium heat and add 1 sage leaf – this will act as your gauge so you know when it’s hot enough. When the leaf just becomes crispy, pick in the remaining sage leaves and take the pan off the heat. They’ll go crispy, snappy and delicious.
- Use a slotted spoon to pop the sage leaves on top of the chilled pâté, then pour over the clarified butter. Put back into the fridge and the butter will go hard and opaque, acting as a seal. You don’t have to eat the butter, but it will have amazing flavour. The pâté will keep happily in the fridge for up to 1 week, but I find it’s best eaten within 3 days.
- I like to serve this with toast, radishes, cornichons, watercress and lemon wedges, and wash it down with a glass of wine.
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