How to make quick easy chicken liver pate? This simple recipe is incredibly delicious and fast!

Alright, let’s talk about chicken liver pate. For ages, I sort of put it in the “too much hassle” category, or something you’d only get at a decent restaurant. You know, visions of chefs meticulously preparing things. I’d buy the stuff from the shops now and then, but it’s never quite the same, is it? And often, it’s loaded with who-knows-what.

My Little Kitchen Experiment

So, the other day, I just fancied some. I had some chicken livers in the fridge – they’re surprisingly cheap, which is always a bonus – and I thought, right, how can I do this without spending half the day on it? I’d seen a few recipes floating about that claimed to be ‘quick and easy’, and I’m always a bit skeptical, but I decided to give it a go, my way, stripping it back to basics.

Here’s how my little experiment unfolded, and honestly, it was a breeze.

Getting Down to It: The Process

First off, I got everything ready. There’s nothing worse than scrambling for ingredients mid-cook. So, I grabbed:

• About a pound of chicken livers. I gave them a quick rinse and a bit of a trim, just snipping off any stringy bits. Took me maybe five minutes.
• One medium onion, finely chopped. Didn’t need to be perfect, just smallish.
• A couple of cloves of garlic, minced.
• A good knob of butter. Probably about two tablespoons, maybe a bit more. I don’t really measure butter for things like this, just go by feel.
• A splash of brandy. This is optional, I reckon, but it does add a certain something. A small glug.
• Some double cream. Again, not strictly essential if you want to keep it lighter, but I like the richness. Maybe two or three tablespoons.
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper. And a pinch of dried thyme because I had it.

So, I melted the butter in my trusty frying pan over a medium heat. Didn’t let it get too hot, just nicely melted. Then, in went the chopped onion. I let that soften for a good five to seven minutes, stirring it now and then so it didn’t catch. You want it soft and translucent, not browned and bitter.

Once the onions were looking good, I chucked in the minced garlic and the thyme, gave it another minute just to get fragrant. You can really smell it at this point – lovely.

Next, the main event: the chicken livers. I turned the heat up just a tad and added them to the pan. The trick here, I’ve found, is not to overcrowd the pan and definitely not to overcook them. You want them browned on the outside but still a little pink in the middle. If you cook them till they’re grey all the way through, your pate will be dry and a bit grainy. This stage only took about 5-6 minutes, turning them over halfway.

Okay, moment of truth (or at least, a bit of excitement). I took the pan off the heat and poured in that splash of brandy. If you’re feeling brave, you can light it, but honestly, just letting it bubble and reduce for a minute is fine. The kitchen smelled amazing at this point!

Then, I scraped the whole lot – livers, onions, all those lovely pan juices – into my food processor. Let it cool down for just a couple of minutes first, you don’t want to be blending piping hot stuff if you can help it. Added the double cream, a good pinch of salt, and a generous grinding of black pepper.

Then I just whizzed it. Blitz, blitz, blitz. I stopped a couple of times to scrape down the sides with a spatula to make sure everything was getting incorporated. You want it really smooth. This probably took a good minute or two of continuous blending.

The (Not So Long) Wait and The Result

Once it was lovely and smooth, I tasted it. Always taste! Added a tiny bit more salt. Perfect. I then poured the mixture into a couple of small ramekins I had. You could use any small dish or even a clean jam jar.

I covered them with cling film, pressing it right onto the surface of the pate to stop a skin from forming, and popped them into the fridge. They say to chill it for at least a couple of hours, or even better, overnight, to let the flavours meld and for it to firm up properly. I am not always that patient, but I did manage to wait about three hours this time.

And you know what? It was absolutely delicious. Smooth, rich, full of flavour, and honestly, the active cooking time was probably no more than 20 minutes. Cleaning the food processor was the most annoying bit, as it often is!

So, there you have it. My ‘quick easy chicken liver pate’ adventure. No fuss, no drama, just good, homemade pate. It’s definitely going to be a regular thing in my kitchen now. If you’ve been thinking it’s too complicated, I urge you to give this simple method a try. You might just surprise yourself.