Chicken liver pate (Pate gan gà)

Chicken liver is a strange subject. You either love it or you don't. I love it, my husband doesn't. He always tells me the reasons why he does not eat liver but I am an adventurous eater and I just simply love it. When you make the pate from chicken liver, it's delicious and tasty. It contains a lot of the B vitamins, vitamin A, Iron, Protein and minerals, and it helps you meet your essential nutrient needs. However chicken liver is also high in cholesterol, heavy metals and other contaminants, so you should not eat it often ;)

The inspiration for this post comes from my friends. Last week, one of my friends sent me 30 loaves of bread from Uyen Thy Bistro in California. Another friend sent me the recipe to make pate from Braunschweiger, but it's made from ground pork, pork liver and bacon and is high in nitrates. But I just love chicken liver pate because it's mild and creamy so I came up with the idea to make my own to eat with bread along with homemade Vietnamese ham . 

The chicken liver pate is inexpensive and simple to make. You can buy organic chicken liver from Whole foods grass fed, without antibiotics and you're good to go.

Below is my recipe for you to try:

Make 4 small individual ramekins 

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh chicken livers, cleaned
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup half & half
• 1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter cut into pieces
• 1 cup chopped yellow onions
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chicken powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup Cognac or brandy (cooking wine or Marsala or Amaretto) 

Directions

In a bowl, soak the livers in the milk for 2 hours. Drain well.

In a large saute pan, melt 1/2 stick of the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken livers, the bay leaves, salt, chicken powder, sugar and pepper and cook, stirring, until the livers are browned on the outside and still slightly pink on the inside, about 5 minutes. Add half of the Cognac or wine and cook until most of the liquid is evaporated and the livers are cooked through but still tender.

Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Discard the bay leaves.

In a food processor, puree the liver mixture. Add the remaining butter in pieces, the rest of the Cognac, 1/4 cup half & half and pulse to blend and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Pack the pate into 4 individual ramekins, about 4 ounces each. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 5 hours.