Holiday Pate

Impress your friends and family this Christmas with a gourmet presentation of your own homemade pate. Don't be intimidated, country pate is nothing more than educated meatloaf or meatloaf enriched with genteel ingredients. Having a pate on premises during the holidays gives you something of elegance to offer visitors or guests along with a glass a wine, sherry or port. A 9X5X3 loaf pan will give you enough for the entire holiday season and save you big bucks. Pate at the gourmet store costs about $16 a pound. You can make this recipe for under that price.

One cup cocnac (reduced by half)

One pound ground veal

one pound ground pork

12 oz. finely diced bacon

10 trimmed chicken liver lobes

1/2 cup pistachio or filbert meats chopped

1 cup minced onion

3 cloves minced garlic

2 t. salt

2 t. thyme

1 t. allspice

1 t. fresh ground pepper

2 eggs

1/3 cup whipping cream

caul fat or bacon to line the 9X5X3 baking pan

In a small saucepan ignite then let reduce the cognac by half.

Saute the onion and garlic in butter until translucent

mix by hand the ground veal and pork

add the chopped nuts and mix in

add the spices

lightly whip together the cognac, cream and eggs

fold into the meat mixture

line the baking pan with caul fat (prefered) or sliced bacon strips

put half of the meat mixture into the pan and lay the trimmed liver lobes down the center, cover with the remaining meat

Stretch the caul fat or bacon over the top of the loaf

cook in a water bath in a 350 degree oven for 2 hour and 15 minutes or an internal temp of 155 F.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for a few hours then weight the top with cans or covered bricks and refrigerate for couple of days.

May need to heat the pan slightly when you remove the pate

garnish the pate slices with cornichon pickles, caper berries, dijon mustard and good crackers or sliced baguette

Leave a slice for Santa