Home Made Pate.

Pate????

Why Pate? Well pate is tasty. Pate is full of protein and iron too!  I have been really tired lately, I have been eating steak and all red meat meals to get my energy levels up. I have made home made pate many-a-time.

Making pate can be tedious, The preparation takes a while so prepare your self.

Interesting info.... Cognac and Brandy are the same spirit!!!! Apparently they are the same spirit according to the lady that works at the local bottle shop!!!!!!!!


Well..... 

All you need to know is that it tastes amazing.  That should be enough!

Ingredients

800grams of Chicken livers

270 grams of butter

50mls of cognac or brandy

2 heaped teaspoons of crushed garlic

1/2 an onion diced.

2 pinched of dry Thyme

Method.

To prepare the livers, cut all the fat, connective tissue and green bits off the livers. 

 I usually cube them up to make sure there is no unwanted white tissue.  This also makes them easier to cook.  Turn the fry pan on on a medium heat, put 20grams of butter and wait for it to brown- shouldn't take long for this, maybe a couple of minutes.  Add the cubed livers.  Fry till sealed, this should take about 5 minutes. 

 Remove the livers once they are sealed.  

Add the onions and fry till they are transparent.  Add the garlic and combine for about 2 minutes till fragrant.

  Put the chicken livers back in the fry pan and fry till cooked.  

I would suggest that you cut some of the big diced pieces open to double check they are brown the whole way through.

  Cut up the remainder of the butter into cubes and add into a blender with the liver mix and remainder oil in the pan.  

Blend till smooth..

Set aside till the pate cools down then add to Tupperware and refrigerate.  Keep for no longer than 2 days

Images by me. 

Some suggestions, add more butter if you are afraid that the liver is to strong.

Pork Knuckle Round 2. Nigella's Pork Knuckle Braised in Beer.

My crazy hock obsession has continued!  After thrashing the bacon hock idea, I decided to go for something that was not as rich.... The pork hock. I did some more research and after some juicy pork knuckle pic's from The Lowenbrau Keller on facebook I decided to give this another go.  This time I added beer, apples, potato and a wee bit of Nigella charm.....  I will edit what I did and did not do.

By the way.  The crackle on this is insanely gooooooood.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 pork knuckles or hocks, rind scored
• 2 onions
• 2 eating apples, cored and quartered
• 4 baking potatoes, or 2 pounds other large white skinned potatoes, cut into quarters lengthwise
• 2 cups good amber or dark ale (not Guinness or stout)
• 2 cups boiling water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Put the salt and caraway seeds into a bowl, mince or grate in the garlic, and stir to combine.

 Add the pork knuckles and rub them well with the caraway mixture, getting it into the slits in the rind where it was scored.

Peel the onions and slice them into rounds and add them to the bottom of a roasting tin, making a bed or platform. Sit the knuckles on top of the onions and cook them for 30 minutes.

Take the tin out of the oven and quickly arrange the apples and potatoes around the knuckles.

 Carefully pour 1 cup of the beer over the knuckles, so they are basted as the liquid pours into the tin.

 Put the pan back into the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and roast for 2 hours.

Turn the oven up again to 425 degrees F, and baste the hocks with the remaining beer. Roast for 30 minutes more.

Remove the tin from the oven and transfer the apples and potatoes to a warmed serving dish. Lift the knuckles onto a carving board and leave the onion and juices in the tin. Put the tin on the stove over medium heat and add 2 cups boiling water, stirring to deglaze the pan to make a gravy. Transfer the gravy to a serving bowl.

Take the crackling off the knuckles and break it into pieces, then add them to a serving bowl. Pull or carve the pork meat and add it to the bowl with the crackling. Serve with the apples, potatoes, gravy and some German mustard.

Images by me.  Recipe by Nigella Lawson

Cous Cous Salad with Orange Balsamic Dressing

When I use to live in Christchurch, I had a Alison Holst recipe book that had a similar recipe to this, actually this recipe was inspired by hers.  I unfortunately left the book in Christchurch when I moved to Dunedin.  I have the knack for loosing things as time goes on.  Especially things I really like.  I use to make this every Sunday in summer for the Sunday session BBQ's I use to throw.  There was never any leftovers!

Ingredients.

1 cup of cous cous

1 x 400gram of canned chickpea's drained.

1/2 a jar of Delmain Char grilled capsicums (680grams)

1/2 a red onion diced very finely

1 large handful of baby spinach

Dressing

1/4 cup of Orange juice

2 tablespoons of balsamic 

1 tablespoon of oil

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

Salt & pepper to taste

Method.

Add the cous cous to a bowl, boil water and add water till the water is just above the cous cous.  Put a lid or a plate over the bowl for 5 minutes, use a fork to fluff the cous cous. 

 Add the balsamic, oil, ground cumin  to the orange juice and stir till combined.

 Add the rest of the ingredients and add the dressing.  

Stir till the dressing is evenly distributed. Add salt and pepper to taste...

If you are looking for more things to add to this, I would recommend roasting some pumpkin, and crumble feta on top and maybe 1/2 a tsp of cinnimon.

Images by me.