Ingredients

• 15g/½oz butter
• ½ small onion or one shallot
• finely chopped
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• leaves picked and finely chopped
• 400g/14oz chicken livers
• roughly chopped
• 1 tsp finely ground white pepper
• 3 allspice berries
• finely ground (available online and in some supermarkets)
• 50ml/2 fl oz sherry or brandy
• salt
• to taste

Directions

• Melt the butter in a frying pan. When it is just foaming
• add the onion and thyme. Sauté until the onion is soft and translucent
• then add the chicken livers and spices.
• Turn up the heat and fry until the livers are just cooked through
• this should take about 3-5 minutes. To test if the chicken is cooked
• remove a piece of liver and cut it open; it should be moist but not bloody
• a little tinge of pink is fine. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and leave to cool.
• Return the frying pan to the heat
• pour in the sherry. Allow to bubble and reduce by half
• stirring and scraping up any sediment from the bottom of the frying pan as you go
• remove from the heat and leave to cool.
• Put the chicken mixture in a food processor. Pour in the reduced sherry. Pulse the food processor until the pâté is smooth. To make the pâté extra smooth pass it through a coarse sieve. Season with salt to taste.
• Put the pâté in a terrine dish or pot and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. If you want to keep the pâté for a few days
• cover it with clarified butter.