Chicken Liver Paté

Chicken liver paté is excellent spread on toast or bread, or plopped on a blini for a fancy starter. Easy, cheap, nutritious and tasty.

Chop the livers into small pieces, discarding the central gristly bit. Sauté the onion in half of the clarified butter until soft (not too hot or you'll burn the butter). Add the chopped livers and cook until browned. While you are doing this, add the brandy to a separate pan and boil until reduced by half. Pour all the livers and onions into a blender (a hand-held stick blender is perfect for this), and whizz until you get a fairly smooth paste. Add the cream and brandy, and whizz a bit more. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Melt the remaining butter, if it is not already liquid. Put the paté into one or two bowls, pour the melted butter over the top, and refrigerate (the butter seals the paté from the air and prevents it oxidising and turning an unpleasant grey colour). You can eat the paté once it has cooled, but it really does improve after a few days.