I think I surprised Mme Perez in the butcher’s shop in Roujan when I said I wanted to make paté. You see, her husband makes wonderful patés and no one here would think of making it themselves. But I wanted to try it again, for the first time for several decades. I used to make a lot of patés when I lived in Oxford and then in rural Wales at a time when ‘exotic’ foods weren’t so widely available. A rather nice cast iron dish with a lid that had been my mother-in-law’s reminded me of those times. And the result was very tasty and less fatty than bought patés.
ingredients:
250 grams pork liver
250 grams belly pork, skin and odd bits of gristle and bone removed
4 cloves garlic
a bunch of fennel leaves (I’d just picked some that was growing wild in the garrigue, but you could use other fresh herbs)
a bunch of parsley
salt, pepper
25 ml Armagnac (or white wine)
Mince the pork belly and liver. I used the food processor for this, but still miss my mother’s hand mincer that I used to use and that has got mislaid somewhere during our moves over the past years. Finely chop the garlic and herbs. I did this in the food processor too. Mix the minced meat, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper and Armagnac and put the mix into an oven-proof, cast-iron or earthenware, dish with a lid, greased with olive oil.
Put the dish, covered with its lid, in a bain-marie – a roasting dish with a couple of centimetres of water in it works fine. Put bain-marie and paté dish in the oven and cook for one and a half hours at 180°C.
Take it out of the oven, remove the lid and allow the paté to cool.
Serve with bread and green salad and a glass of wine – red, rosé or white.
How delightufl! And certainly less fatty than the storebought one 🙂 ! Haven’t made one for years: but silly Down Under country bumpkin I may be – would call this more of a terrine than pate – shall try after splurging on a bottle of beloved Armagnac 😀 !
I wondered whether to call it a terrine – I’m not sure what the difference is!
The way I understand it, a pate is absolutely smooth in texture, a terrine has ‘lumps’ in it, ie you can see the different components! Also terrines usually seem stronger in flavour . . . actually find them more interesting . . .
Sounds like an excellent pate. I think home made is best even though we in the land of charcutiers and traiteurs. My eye was most taken by the interesting range of colour temperatures in your pictures:)
Yes, the middle one was taken in the evening when I took it out of the oven, in artificial light – not a very professional variation, I know!
Gorgeous, I agree with Roger, home made is always best and I love the texture and flavours you have in yours!
I will have to check that my 2 sisters & daughter don’t mind, but I have my Mum’s hand mincer that I don’t use and would love it to go to someone who would make good use of it. It is metal with (I think) 3 grades of mincer and clamps on to the side of a kitchen table. Let me check (and that I still have all the bits) and I will get back to you. We are visiting France in July (Metz) for a week so I’m sure there will be some way of getting it to you (rather heavy to post).
Penny aka Toadally Mad from Blipfoto
What a very kind offer – thank you! I’ll email you.
Excellent – I stopped buying most shop påté in England – it tastes quite bland. Home made is definitely best 🙂
I stopped buying paté here after my last visit to Paris about a dozen years ago. I’ve never tried to make it myself because I lacked a good butcher. I have one now, though, and maybe I should give homemade a try. Thanks for the inspiration.
It’s definitely worth it! Looking forward to seeing the paté you make.