Poor Girl's Pate: Mushrooms, Chicken Livers and Truffle Oil

Poor Girl's Pate.
Yes, I had it for breakfast this morning. Too, too good!

Back when Izzy was a newborn, she had a hard time with dairy products, and her Mom, who was nursing her, had to give them all up. This is a tough thing in this family; we are all Francophiles, and while we can do without a lot of things, good cheese is dear to our hearts. We came up with a lot of alternatives for Susan, --dairy-free cakes, cookies and I even changed up my favorite pate recipe to eliminate all the dairy products. Now that Izzy is older, and has gotten past her dairy issues, I am back to the original recipe, more or less, and I have to say, while the dairy free one is delicious, this one hits the ball out of the park. How can you go wrong with chicken livers, mushrooms, and truffle flavors? Ball out of the park? Can you tell I fell asleep last night watching the Phillies with Chuck?

I call this Poor Girl's Pate because, while I'd like to be able to afford to use real truffles and duck or goose livers to make it, my budget (and probably yours) is a lot happier with chicken livers, truffle oil and truffle salt. This is wonderful as a snack, hors d'oeuvre, or with a soup or salad for lunch or dinner. I admittedly had it for breakfast this morning. Mea culpa.

Poor Girl's Pate

2T butter
2T extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large shallots, chopped fine
8 to 10 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
kosher salt
1 lb. chicken livers
1/4 cup brandy or cognac
1-1/2 tsp. Herbes de Provence
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 scant tsp. black truffle salt
1/3 cup crème fraîche, homemade or purchased
4 tsp. Black truffle oil

Heat the butter and oil together in a 12" skillet over medium heat, and when the butter is melted, add the shallots and garlic, and stirring, cook until the shallots begin to look translucent. 

Add the mushrooms to the pan, add a pinch or two of kosher salt, and cook until they give up their juices and soften. Add the chicken livers to the pan, stir well to mix evenly with the mushroom mixture, and carefully add the cognac or brandy. If you have a gas range, if you tilt the pan away from you slightly toward the gas fire, and flame the brandy. If you have an electric or induction range, you can either use a match, or just let the alcohol cook out for a minute or two. 

Flaming the brandy or cognac.
Keep back, and keep a lid handy to smother it if the flames get out of hand.

When the brandy is mostly gone, add the Herbes de Provence and the white wine, stir well, and cook the liver mixture until the livers are just pink inside. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the truffle salt.

Dump the contents of the skillet into a food processor, and puree. Add the crème fraîche and black truffle oil and puree until completely smooth.

Serve with baguette, toasts, crackers or on pear slices. 

Makes about 2 cups. 

The Best Thing You Forgot to Grill This Summer: Lamb, Butterflied and Marinated

Somehow, we've missed the boat here with one of the best possible meats for the grilling season. Everyone does beef steaks and burgers, pulled pork butt and ribs, but rarely do you ever see a really great recipe for a simply fabulous grilled lamb. Here it is.

Meat Eater's Delight: juicy, tender grilled butterflied lamb!

A lot of people think they don't like lamb; it draws up memories of dry, overdone leg of lamb with mint jelly at Easter dinners. I was one of them until I was a teenager, and was served lamb cooked rare in France. What a revelation: rich, juicy and succulent. Certainly NOT what my mother put on the table at home. The key to really wonderful lamb is never to cook it past medium rare...or at most medium. If there is no pink left, then you better keep cooking and make a stew, as well-done lamb leg is abominable. It's the stuff that made so many people think they don't like lamb. Like Chuck.

Last weekend, for Sunday dinner, I found a beautiful, small piece of free-range, organic lamb at the butcher, already boned and butterflied. All it needed was a little marinating in a simple garlicky mixture of fresh garlic, Herbes de Provence, red wine and olive oil. And then a short visit on a hot grill. Perfection.  Good meat doesn't need a lot of ornamentation. Ours turned out to be a spectacular dinner, and my lamb-hating husband scarfed down every bit on his plate.

Be sure your grill is hot enough to cook before your start. 450°F.

Note: To make this Simple Grilled Lamb, you'll need some simple math skills to multiply the ingredients according to the number of people you plan to serve.  The meat should be evenly butterflied to just over 1" thick. Also, please be sure your Herbes de Provence mixture contains lavender; it doesn't have taste anywhere as good without it. When you remove the meat from the grill notice that the grain of the meat will likely go in different directions in the leg, as it's comprised of several different muscles. Be sure to pay attention to where the grain shifts direction as you carve the cooked meat to keep cutting against the grain. This will insure every bite will be meltingly tender.

Simple Grilled Lamb

1 pound of butterflied leg of lamb for every two people you plan to serve
2T of Herbes de Provence per pound of meat
3 minced garlic cloves for each pound of meat
1teas. kosher salt per pound of meat
1/2 cup dry red wine per pound of meat
2T extra virgin olive oil per pound
1 big grind of fresh ground pepper per pound.

Place the meat in a big zip top bag. Combine everything else and pour over. Seal the bag and refrigerate 6  to 8 hours, turning over occasionally bathe the meat in the marinade  evenly.

No fancy ingredients,  just herbs, garlic , wine and oil. Perfection.

Heat a grill to 450°F. Remove the meat from the marinade and discard the bag and marinade. Grill about 3-5 minutes a side depending on how well cooked you like it. Let stand about 7-10 minutes before slicing across the grain like a London broil. Better to err on the rare side as you can always put it back on longer. No way back from overcooked.

Nice with a light dry red wine, pureed cauliflower and steamed greens with oil and garlic.