Pâtés and Spreads
Here are our recipes for Chicken Liver . Duxelles . Eggplant . Red Pepper
Duxelles - mushroom pâté
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped finely
- ¼ tsp dry thyme
- several mushrooms
- sherry
- salt & pepper
Preparation
- Brush dirt off mushrooms and chop to the consistency of ground beef.
- Heat some olive oil in a pan. Sauté the onion til transluscent and beginning to brown on the edges.
- Add thyme and fry a little longer.
- Add mushrooms and fry until they are dry.
- Add a good splash of sherry. Fry until dry.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve as an appetizer with Melba toast or use some of it to enhance gravy. It freezes well for the second purpose. It is also excellent on top of grilled steak.
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Pâté de Foie de Volaille
Chicken Liver Pate with Green Peppercorns and a Gelatine Topping
revised December 2006 (click on image for larger view and more photos)
makes a generous 2 cups
Ingredients
pate:
- ⅓ c unsalted butter
- 1 large onion, chopped finely
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1½ tsp dried thyme
- ¾ c celery tops
- 15 black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 c water
- 1 lb chicken livers
- 4½ Tbsp Cognac (or brandy, or whisky)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1½ tsp ground allspice
- 7½ tsp water-packed (brine) green peppercorns, drained
- ½ c heavy cream (or 10% cream)
gelatine topping:
- one undiluted can (10 oz/284 ml) beef consommé (we use Campbell's®)
- ½ Tbsp unflavoured gelatine (we use half a package of Knox®)
- red peppercorns, fresh bay leaves or thyme for garnish
Preparation
- pate: Gently sauté onion, garlic and thyme in butter until onion is soft and lightly coloured.
- Add celery tops, 15 peppercorns and bay leaves to water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer about 10 minutes.
- Add livers to water and gently simmer for about 10 minutes. The livers should still be slightly pink inside.
- Drain livers, discarding celery tops, peppercorns and bay leaves.
- Put livers, onion mixture in a steel bladed food processor. Add cream, cognac (substitute brandy or whisky - or any liquor that has seen some oak aging), salt, pepper, allspice and 5 tsp of green peppercorns.
- Put mixture into serving terrines. Evenly divide the rest of the green peppercorns and stir into the pate. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set the pate. It will be quite loose when you first put it in the fridge.
- gelatine topping: For dissolving the gelatine, follow the directions on the gelatine box. Before pouring jelly mixture over pate carefully put the bowl of mixed gelatine into a bowl of ice water (N.B. The ice water should stay well away from the jelly mixture) and stir to drop the temperature to below room temperature. Pour the jelly mixture over the pate and carefully drop a fresh bay leaf or sprig of fresh thyme and a few dry red peppercorns on top of the jelly. Refrigerate to set. (If you are very patient, you can constantly look to see when the jelly has half set and then put the garnish on top.)
Let the pate sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before serving as an appetizer with Melba toast, water crackers or crusty bread.
This pate is fabulous with Melba toast, water crackers, crusty French-style or Molasses Fennel Rye bread.
Adapted from a recipe in The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins, Workman Publishing, New York
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Roasted Red Pepper Pâté
Ingredients
makes a cup to a cup and a half
- 1 large red pepper, roasted
- 250 gm cream cheese
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 Tbsp capers
- black pepper to taste
Preparation
- Wash the red pepper well. Place it whole into a 400F oven oven for a total of about 20 minutes. Turn it every 5 minutes til all sides are puffy and dark coloured all over. Don't worry if some of it gets black. Remove from oven and cover with a paper towel and let sit for about ten minutes.
- Peel the red pepper. The skin should easily pull away. Cut the pepper in half and discard seeds. Dry off excess liquid with the paper towel
- Put cream cheese in food processor and whirl til softened. Add chopped green onions, capers, red pepper, freshly ground black pepper and whirl til well mixed.
Serve as an appetizer with Melba toast, water crackers or thin slices of Molasses Fennel Bread. It is also good as a dip for julienned raw vegetables. Roast an extra pepper, julienne it to put on pizza.
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Eggplant and Garlic Spread
Ingredients
- 1 largish eggplant (or 2 Asian eggplants)
- 3 or 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- ¼ c. olive oil (more or less)
- handful parsley leaves, chopped finely
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- salt & pepper
Preparation
- Pierce whole eggplant(s) on one side. Put whole, pierced side up on a rack in 500F oven for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Put peeled whole garlic cloves in a small oven proof bowl. Drizzle with a little olive oil and place in oven beside the eggplant for 10 minutes or til golden.
- When the eggplant is limp and flat, remove it from the oven and peel away the skin. It should fall away easily. Compost the skin. Put the eggplant flesh into a medium sized bowl. Add roasted garlic cloves, olive oil, allspice, parsley, salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher til relatively smooth. (You can use a blender if you want.)
Serve immediately. This is a wonderful slathered on slices of crusty bread.
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based on Rachael Ray's "Poor Man's Caviar: Eggplant Spread"
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ejm (aka llizard)
2000-2003, 2007
Toronto Ontario Canada
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
