Chicken and Mushroom Pate

Ingredients

Serves 6 -  approx 400ml

• 400g chicken livers

• 200g chestnut mushrooms

• 200g unsalted butter

• 1 small onion

• 2 cloves garlic

• 4 sprigs thyme

• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

• 50ml sweet sherry

• salt and pepper

Method

Start by dicing the mushrooms into very small cubes then fry with 25g of the butter for 5 mins until cooked. Remove the mushrooms from the frying pan to a bowl then turn your attention to the rest.

Clean the livers, then pat dry with kitchen towel. Now with a sharp knife cut away any of the white connective tissue. Put the trimmed livers to the side while you dice the onion and garlic, and pick the leaves off the thyme. The size of the onion and garlic doesn't matter here as they will be blended later.

Add 25g more of the butter to the frying pan you used for the mushrooms. Then sweat down the onion for 6 mins before adding the garlic for 3 minutes more.

Once done turn up the heat to medium/high and add the livers, thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry for 5 minutes turning every so often until they are nicely brown on the outside with a trace of pink in the middle.

Add the sherry and the nutmeg and bubble for 1 minute before adding 100g of the butter (leaving 50g left). Once the butter has melted in, take off the heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Once cooled slightly transfer to a blender and blend to your preferred consistancy (smooth to course). Now transfer to a serving dish and mix in the mushrooms. If you prefer a fully smooth pate you can add the mushrooms into the blender with the livers.

Now melt the remaining 50g of butter and then pour over the pate to seal it in. Leave until the butter has solidified again then transfer to the fridge for an hour or two before serving so the pate firms up.