JULIA CHILD’S ANNUAL BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE
Chicken Liver Pâté à la Jacques Pépin
Joyeux Anniversaire Julia Child! It has been an honor, a passion, and a tradition to celebrate the Chef’s birthday on Taste With The Eyes for several years now.
This year I imagine her dear, long-time friend, Jacques Pépin, inviting her over for an intimate luncheon that begins with her favorite upside-down martini. The first course includes his famous chicken liver pâté with toasted baguette, radishes from the garden with Maldon sea salt and European-style butter, cornichons and cocktail onions.
Chicken Liver Pâté Recipe
Jacques Pépin’s recipe for chicken liver pâté is silky-smooth, inexpensive, and simple to make — and perfect with a cocktail or glass of wine before a meal. (from Food & Wine here)
Ingredients:
1/2 pound chicken livers, well-trimmed
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1 small garlic clove, smashed and peeled
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to season
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Cognac or Scotch whisky
Freshly ground black pepper
Toasted baguette slices, for serving
Method:
In a medium saucepan, combine the chicken livers, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add the water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the livers are barely pink inside, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
Discard the bay leaf. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the livers, onion, and garlic to a food processor; process until coarsely pureed.
With the machine on, add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, until incorporated.
Add the Cognac, season with salt and pepper, and process until completely smooth.
Scrape the pâté into 2 or 3 large ramekins. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pâté and refrigerate until firm.
Serve chilled.
IN MEMORIAM ❤️
Julia Child
August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004
chef, mentor, heroine, author, television icon,
inspiration, nonagenarian, friend, american treasure
MORE JULIA CHILD TRIBUTES
Julia and Jacques’s Gravlax (here)
I re-create her famous Cambridge, Massachusetts kitchen (now at the Smithsonian) and recipe for Vichyssoise (here)
Julia Child’s Upside-Down Martini (here)
Julia’s First Meal in France and her fabulous recipe for Sole Meunière (here)
Sneak into Julia’s kitchen to watch her make the authentic Caesar Salad and Salmon in Papillote in her usual charming and un-fussy manner (here)
Join Julia and her friends in a beautiful courtyard, seated at a little white table beneath a leafy trellis for a splendid lunch, while they uncover the secret of Loup de Mer (here)