Chicken Livers

[Zosherooney]

Yesterday I picked up from the RTC counter a pack of chicken livers for 65p

Mr. Z. will eat pate but will not eat CL in a state that they can be seen and detected as 'livers'.... I can make some pate but would welcome any suggestions or recipes that he might eat using them ???

TIA

[Zosherooney]

Found this...https://www.theguardian.com/food/2018/d ... agu-recipe

But wondered if I could blend the finished liver part and stir it into pasta, that way, the flavour is there but with no discernible 'liver' pieces ????

[suffolk]

I think I’d chop the livers very small with a knife rather than blend it ... I think it’s likely to turn into an unpleasant mush.

If you want to blend it make parfaits .... yummity yum yum ... especially with Melba toast .... we may well be having it as a starter some time over Christmas ... in fact the chicken
livers freeze well so you could freeze them now and make parfaits with brandy at Christmas

[Zosherooney]

Don't want 'baby food'.... so chopped small may be the way to go...

If I could find a space in my DF I would freeze them. Like the sound of parfaits, will google a recipe...

[Seatallan]

I like chicken livers in a Spag Bol though I'm not sure how authentic it is. I also make a chicken liver risotto sometimes.

[StokeySue]

The Pellegrino Artusi recipe for Rahul bologmaise, concerned as close to original as you can get, contains chicken liver - saw Giorgio Locatelli cook it on Italy Unpacked

I like a version of fegato alla Veneziana (Venetian lover - stir fried with lots of onions and finished with balsamic vinegar- made with chicken livers instead of calves liver - even better with turkey livers - not sure when they vanished from Sainsbury

Most internet recipes seem to use white wine rather than balsamic (weird) but it’s dead easy
Slice thinly at least an equal weight to liver of onions and cook slowly in olive oil until soft and lightly caramelised, then turn up the heat, add the sliced livers and stir fry until just done, season and add s good glug of balsamic to make a little sauce - possibly s place to use your second best balsamic not you Sunday best, as all those onions will over power it

[earthmaiden]

The parfait sounds good. In early days of making Spaghetti Bolognese we always added chicken livers and they sort of melted into the sauce.

I adore chicken livers so don't need to disguise them. Simply fried with a dash of balsamic vinegar added towards the end and served as a warm salad or with rice - yum. I don't think they even need onions.

Amended to say that garlic infused oil to fry works rather well!

[Zosherooney]

In Mr. Z.'s world the word 'liver' is like swearing..... he won't even part his lips..... it took years to convince him that pate was 'nice' to eat.

[Ratatouille]

Mr R is about the same with kidney - that why, last night, I cooked him and andouilette and did the veal kidney for me!

[suffolk]

Mr R is about the same with kidney - that why, last night, I cooked him and andouilette and did the veal kidney for me!

Given the chance I’d have both

[Ratatouille]

Me Too suffs but tthat would have been greedy!

[PatsyMFagan]

When does 'paté' become parfait ? (ignorant pleb here )

[StokeySue]

I’ve never been sure, but I think a parfait is basically a soft pate passed through a sieve - or in the age of the processor, one that achieves the same texture

Edited because spellchecker decreed sieve should be drive

[suffolk]

Think it’s when eggs are added ...?

[StokeySue]

No eggs in the chicken liver parfait recipes I know though I see Raymond Blanc has them in his

Felicity has no eggs in her “perfect parfait” but a quick scan didn’t reveal a definition

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/nov/29/how-make-perfect-chicken-liver-pate

[Badger's mate]

When does 'paté' become parfait ?

I believe that what is now called parfait would once have been called paté

[earthmaiden]

My opinion is that parfait contains egg and is pushed through a sieve after blending so that it is very, very smooth and light and that pate, although blended well, and perhaps pushed through a coarser sieve if there is no blender, it is not so 'airy'.

Felicity's is pate and called that as far as I can see.

Both would be very acceptable to me

[Badger's mate]

If you google it though, there are some recipes with egg and some without. If it appears on a menu, it's generally called parfait these days whereas it would have been called paté previously.

I suspect it's a similar matter to ale and beer. Strictly speaking ale is (was) an un-hopped drink and beer was made with hops. Nowadays it's simply a marketing distinction.

[Zosherooney]

Fairy cakes V cup cakes.....

Have to say the flavour & texture is lovely, I like the lavender in it... quite subtle. I did not pass it thru a sieve there was enough washing up! Sadly my trusty hand blender died during the process, but thankfully I had another one waiting in the wings !

I will take a portion around to a girlfriend who is disposing of some Indian rugs on Wed. They just want a good home for them.

[earthmaiden]

Fairy cakes are smaller than cup cakes, are not made with runny batter and have a sensible amount of icing on them .. .

Lavender sounds 'interesting'.

[StokeySue]

Incidentally I though it was worth looking up "parfait" in Larousse Gastronomique

Apparently it's a whipped cream dessert - no entry for the pate version

So I suspect it's a term made up when colour cookery magazines and the Paul Hamlyn photo cook books came in

[PatsyMFagan]

Incidentally I though it was worth looking up "parfait" in Larousse Gastronomique

I never thought to look it up in my copy … I did wonder if Parfait was lighter/fluffier that simple paté

[suffolk]

That’s always been my understanding ... it needs the addition of something, cream, eggs ... or even air whipped into it ...