“I think preparing food and feeding people brings nourishment not only to our bodies but to our spirits. Feeding people is a way of loving them, in the same way that feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own createdness and fragility.”
― Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way
My Mum is a pretty fab’ cook
My sister and brother and I were lucky enough to grow up in a household where we ate good food. Really good food.
Takeaways were a rare ‘special treat’. Not much has changed there.
I was the only kid in my year at school who sat down to a cooked breakfast every morning. Around the table. With both my Mum and Dad present. And I never realised just how special that was.
I used to occasionally swap my lunch – usually some variation on salad sandwiches on whole-grain with home-made muesli bars and fruit – with the borders at school. That way, I’d get the odd Four’n Twenty meat-pie or iced bun. Don’t tell Mum!
For our birthdays, we always got to choose what we wanted for dinner. My sister always had schnitzel. Proper schnitzel with the veal flattened with a meat cleaver. Me, I was partial to eye filet with Bearnaise sauce (made from scratch). Still am, to be honest.
Mum had a few tried and true recipes in her toolbox. For a while, her dinner party dessert-of-choice was this amazing apricot bavarois-style number. As kids, we were allowed to share any leftovers the next morning. Needless to say, we always made a b-line for the dessert. I have a vivid memory of just how that apricot number tastes. Oh – how inconvenient to be on a sugar-free kick!
And don’t get me started on Mum’s Zuppa Inglese – the Italian take on a trifle – a layered cake of sponge soaked with alcohol and layered with custard and berries and cream. It was our extended family’s ‘traditional’ Christmas dessert throughout my childhood. My sister still asks for it. Not very AIP, unfortunately.
But, despite all this…
I’d be willing to bet that if you asked my brother and sister which food they most request from our Mum when they’re visiting, it would be her chicken liver pâté. And, I’d be no different. It’s our favourite. We grew up on it. Mum’s pâté served on Vogel’s toast with butter. Good grass-fed New Zealand butter. It was the Frankham household’s after-school snack of choice (if you don’t count my brother’s puberty years when he could scarf down 167 weetbix in one sitting).
And today I am sharing my Mum’s WORLD FAMOUS In NEW ZEALAND Chicken Liver Pâté recipe with you. Because she gave it to me. I love my Mum.
It’s SO easy to whip up. But, it is an AIP reintroduction – it contains dairy and a little alcohol (and some black pepper – but that can be easily omitted)
A few statistics
My Mum has been making this recipe for over 50 years. She conservatively estimates she makes it at least 10 times per year. That means she’s made it at least 500 times.
By my reckoning, Mum’s been personally responsible for making pâté from over 175 kilograms (or 386 pounds) of chicken livers and over 100 kilograms (or 220 pounds) of grass-fed butter!
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Makes approximately 5 - 6 ramekins-full
- 200g / 7oz butter, room temperature (divided)
- 1 small onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 generous stems parsley, including stalks
- 3 generous stems thyme, including stalks
- 350g / 12.5oz organic or pasture raised chicken livers
- 1 tablespoon brandy
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Wash and clean your chicken livers, removing any sinew. Roughly chop into generous bite sized pieces.
- Melt ½ your butter in a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat. Add onion, garlic and herbs. Sauté until onion is translucent and soft, about 7 minutes.
- Now add your chicken livers. Cook until lovely and brown on the outside, but still a touch pink in the middle, about 5 minutes.
- Remove herbs, includinhg bay leaf.
- Carefully transfer to your food processor or high speed blender. Add brandy. Process on high until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Chop remaining butter into cubes. With the motor of your food processor running, slowly add remaining butter. Check for seasoning.
- Pop into a pretty dish if serving to a crowd or a few ramekins for individual portions.
Even Bella loves my Mum’s WORLD FAMOUS In NEW ZEALAND Chicken Liver Pâté. A pooch with impeccable taste!
That is definitely one of my favourite Bella shots …
Every Bella shot is a favourite!
I reckon this pate, and Kate Jay’s pork and chicken liver terrine are the only way I will ever eat organ meat. I’ve tried, but I cannot get passed the metallic taste of it (or the urinary taste of kidneys). Lamb liver and calf liver is just too strong. Some people tell me cooking calf liver in milk is great – not for AIP though. But is chicken liver also one of those dont-eat-often foods like chicken meat due to the hormones etc?
Melanie – I love liver. Kidneys – not so much!
You are quite correct about the omega-6 levels in chicken, which is why getting the highest quality meat possible is key. With liver, it’s a case of the nutritional benefits out-weighing the negatives – but certainly, ensuring you are getting a balance of omega-3 and omega-6 is important.
An AIP approach with a focus on nutrient density is a very good way to acheive this!
Given your sister is now dairy free I suspect her Zuppe Inglese days are over… but pate… yummo… thanks for finally wrestling one of the recipes out of New Zealand x
I wonder if grain-free, dairy-free Zuppe Inglese is a thing?
I purchased my organic chicken livers and soaked them in very cold filtered water with a tablespoon of celtic salt for an hour. I also used ghee too avoid the milk solids and pushed the blended paste through a metal sieve to remove the connecting tissue. Result a milder tasting very smooth pate that also freezes well.