Easy and Elegant Chicken Liver Pate Recipe

Delicious.

Homemade.
Easy.
Elegant.

& Paleo

Chicken Liver Pate with Blackberries is as good as it gets.

Ingredients:
½ pound chicken livers, trimmed

½ cup onion, chopped

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 bay leaf

¼ teaspoon fresh thyme

slight sprinkling of salt and pepper

1 cup water

1½ sticks, butter

and toasted baguette (or lavash) with blackberry jam for serving

Instructions:
In a medium saucepan, combine livers, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper and water and bring to a low simmer. Cover and cook until the livers are slightly pink inside, about 2 minutes. (I cut a few with a small knife, just to be sure)

Remove from heat and cool at least 5 minutes.

After discarding the bay leaf, drain the pan, transfering its contents to your food processor and process until smooth, adding the butter a few tablespoons at a time, until fully incorporated.

Spoon the mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a 2-inch log. Twist the ends closed and refrigerate until firm. At least overnight to give the flavors time to mingle.

Cut into slices and serve with fresh blackberries, blackberry jam and sliced baguettes.

Enjoy!!

Roasted Apples with Onions and Carrots

Love apples
Love onions
Love carrots
and rosemary and garlic

And some nights, I especially love a quick and easy dinner.

So I chopped up the first three loves tossed them with olive oil and the next two, and YUM!

Oh, yeah. I also threw some Trader Joe's Basil Sausages in a frypan to keep all the deliciousness company.

Paleo-Friendly Sausage and Cauliflower Casserole

Who doesn’t love a good casserole? Far as I’m concerned, that’s what we have winter for. On a frosty day, there’s nothing better than coming home to a big pan of creamy, cheesy, yum baking in the oven. It’s an edible hug. However, if you’re following any sort of Paleo plan, casseroles aren’t exactly on your radar. Until now. This has to be the best Paleo Friendly casserole ever invented. Seriously good stuff.

Homemade Guacamole

This Guacamole recipe is not only one of the quickest dishes you can make for your super bowl fiesta, it’s one of the tastiest. Made with avocados, onions, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, lime juice, garlic and salt, it’s potassium rich, fiber rich—as healthy as it is delicious. I prefer Haas avocados, with black bumpy skin to their smooth, green-skinned cousins. I find their flesh much richer. I also prefer, red or white onions instead of scallions, enjoying the added texture, the sharp crunch in an otherwise creamy sauce.

As for instructions—you pretty much put everything in a bowl, get out the chips and chow down—however I would suggest multiple tastings before you finalize your recipe. Maybe a little more lime juice or cilantro. The amount of salt can vary greatly depending on the freshness of your limes and the richness of your avocados. My mother-in-law will add a good measure of cottage cheese to stretch the recipe and on rare occasions, I have added sour cream for the same reason.

Now, if you find avocados to be too much trouble, too messy, mushy or hard to peel, check out this article via Bon Appetite, The Smarter Way to Chop an Avocado. If you follow their instructions, you will be able to extract the fruit in mere seconds with minimal waste.

On a personal note, I store my jalapeños in the freezer, removing and grating as needed. I find grating to be quicker than chopping, thereby avoiding the issue of too stinging fingertips (capsaicin burn). 

Finely grated, the pepper’s heat will permeate the dish much more evenly. However, you should be aware that the longer you store chiles, even frozen, the hotter they become, so adjust your portions as necessary.

Ingredients:

Large handful of cilantro, chopped

½  cup chopped red or white onion

1 large jalapeño, frozen and grated

½  clove garlic, crushed and then finely chopped

4 avocados

½ tomato, chopped

2 Tbs fresh lime juice

salt to taste

Directions:

In a medium bowl, lightly mash the avocado before mixing in the lime juice, garlic and salt. Then add the onion, cilantro and tomatoes, and jalapeño, stirring only to combine.

Enjoy!

Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Are you ready for some football?

Are you ready for some of the best commercials you’ll see all year?

For Arnold going at it on the Ping-Pong table?

 Or are you just there for the eats?

Up until a few years ago, I was there for the eats. Could care less who was playing. Could care less what the score was, who missed what critical pass, who was injured and playing his heart out anyway--none of it interested me. I was there for the food. Mostly, to cook it. Loved cooking a bunch of greasy, cheesy, spicy snacks for a bunch of crazy folks who seemed to be making a sport out of whose turn it was to scream at the television set next.

But that was then.

Today, I’m right in there with them--or at least on the couch. We moved into Patriot territory, what can I say? I mean, is there a better quarterback out there? Seriously? I don’t think so. However, sitting on the couch has one disadvantage. No one is in the kitchen. So this season, I’ve had to come up with a few recipes to keep me in the game. Chips and salsa just ain’t my style. Well, unless it’s Lipton onion dip and a bag of Ruffles that is. In that case, you best watch your fingers.

Over the next week, I'll share a few dishes I like to serve.

First up, Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

A Panamanian girlfriend shared her recipe a few years ago, and after a few tweaks, I think I have the perfect sauce. Even the ingredients are beautiful!

Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce