Chicken liver pâté

Homemade chicken liver pâté. Easy, cheap but special. This time I was inspired by a foie gras starter we had this summer in France. The chef added a little quatre épices which I liked very much. The problem with chicken liver pâté is that I normally have enough of it quite easily. But today I discovered that with some sriracha chili sauce I will never get satisfied, always eager for more.

Ingredients
500g chicken livers (rinsed and white, yellow & green bits removed)
100g butter
1 shallot
75 ml white port (or madeira, cognac, shaoxing etc)
75 ml cream
1 t salt
1 t freshly ground pepper
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of ground cardamom
2 pinches of cayenne pepper.

Directions
Saute the chopped shallot in some of the butter.
Then add the chicken livers.
Add the salt and a tiny pinch of ground cloves (kruidnagel in dutch), ground green cardamom and some cayenne pepper.
Saute the livers in about 4-6 minutes until done but still pink in the middle.
Transfer to your blender (or a bowl to cool down if your blender is plastic)
Deglaze the pan with white port and let it reduce.
Take the pan off the heat, add remaining butter.
Let it cool. Then add to the blender.
Blend until smooth. Pass through sieve.
I whipped the cream and carefully mixed the two when the chicken liver was cooled down enough but I think you can just as well add the cream (unwhipped) to the blender.

Put in one or more decorative jars.
(I used a pâté mold but I wouldn’t bother again, no matter what shape, chicken liver pâté is never going to look pretty)
Cover with cling film to prevent discoloring.
Put in fridge and wait at least 12 hours until set.

Like I said, I’ve made this before and it’s always a bit “much”, a bit “heavy”. Normally I can’t finish the batch. But today I discovered that with (spring onion and) sriracha chili sauce this chicken liver pâté is awesome.