A smooth, buttery pâté sealed under butter the old French way, flavoured with quatre épices, Cognac and thyme. Chicken livers cost very little, and it can be made days ahead. From The Clean Table: An Herbalist's Kitchen in the Creuse.
Cut away any white sinew and green spots from the livers (the green bits taste bitter). Pat them dry with paper towel so they brown instead of steaming.
Melt the 30 g of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook gently until soft and golden, about 4 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant.
Turn the heat up a little, add the livers in one layer and brown them on each side, about 6 minutes in all. Cook until they are firm and no longer pink in the middle when you cut one open. Chicken livers can carry campylobacter, so don't leave them pink the way some restaurant recipes do.
Pour in the Cognac and let it bubble for a minute, scraping up the brown bits from the pan. Take it off the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes.
Tip everything from the pan into the food processor with the quatre épices and pepper. Blend until smooth, then add the softened butter a few cubes at a time until silky. Taste: with salted butter you probably won't need extra salt. For a very fine pâté, push it through a sieve with the back of a spoon.
Spoon into small covered pots or ramekins, smooth the tops and chill for an hour until firm.
Lay a thyme sprig or bay leaf on each, pour the melted butter over the top to seal, put the lids on and refrigerate overnight so the flavours settle.
Take it out 20 minutes before serving and spread on baguette.
Notes
The butter seal. Pouring melted butter over a pâté is the old French way of keeping it: the butter shuts out the air. Crack through it at the table and spread it along with the pâté.For a holiday table. Make it two or three days ahead. Sealed under its butter it keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge; once opened, eat it within 2 days.Quatre épices. The French "four spices" is sold ready-mixed in French shops. To make your own, mix a pinch each of ground pepper, nutmeg, clove and ginger.A word of care. Liver is very rich in vitamin A, and pâté can carry listeria, so the usual advice in pregnancy is to skip pâté altogether.The Vegetarian Way. See the Lentil and Walnut Pâté, made with the same shallot, thyme, spices and Cognac.Galenic note. Galen counted liver warm and moist and rich. Thyme and the warming quatre épices balance the richness and support digestion, which is why they turn up in old French pâtés again and again.Nutrition is an estimate per serving, including the sealing butter.