Please pass the pâté

Wild-game varieties of this special dish satisfy guests

Paloma, or dove, pâté is easily made with boneless mourning-dove breasts, butter, cream, green onions and seasonings. A food processor provides a quick means for combining the ingredients to make a scrumptious appetizer.
Paloma, or dove, pâté is easily made with boneless mourning-dove breasts, butter, cream, green onions and seasonings. A food processor provides a quick means for combining the ingredients to make a scrumptious appetizer.

Want to create an extra-special dish for your next dinner party? Try making a pâté from venison, dove breasts or the giblets of quail, ducks or geese.

Those little punctuation marks over the letters in “pâté” tell you right away this dish must be something fancy. The word is French for “pie” and originally referred to a pastry case filled with a savory mixture of ground or chopped meat, fat and other ingredients. One well-known version is pâté de foie gras, an expensive, extraordinarily rich pie with a silky-smooth filling made from raw truffles, seasonings and the enlarged livers of force-fed geese. This is only one of many pâtés that were once popular in European households, however. Pâtés de poissons, or fish pies, were also common. And in the 1921 English translation of Escoffier’s well-known cookbook Le Guide Culinaire, we find recipes for pâtés made with a variety of game meats, including woodcock, pheasant, partridge and hare.

In the old country, pâtés were often served by removing the upper crust in one piece, inverting it and topping it with little scoops of the filling that were served on slices of crusty bread. Today, the pâté is more likely to be cooked in a terrine or similar-sized mold, with no crust at all. The pâté is unmolded on a plate for serving hot or cold and is usually served as a first course or appetizer.

In its modern form, pâté is more like a meat spread than a pie — a fancy (yet infinitely more delicious) potted meat or liverwurst, if you will. Liver is still the main ingredient in many pâtés. But if you would prefer your pâté sans liver, there are recipes you’re sure to relish as well, including some included here. With a food processor, blender or meat grinder, these are very easy to make, and I highly recommend you give them a try. Pâté is, in a word, delicious.

Pecan-Venison Pâté

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground venison

1/2 pound pork sausage

1 cup finely shredded carrots

1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup sherry (optional)

1 egg, beaten

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and mix well. Pack lightly into a 7 1/2-by-3 1/2-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until well done. Drain and discard excess juices. Transfer to the refrigerator, and chill until completely cold. Slice and serve as an appetizer.

Paloma Pâté

Ingredients:

1 bunch green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/2 pound boneless dove-breast fillets

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Place the green onions in a food processor, and chop finely. Melt the butter in a skillet, briefly saute the onions, and add the dove meat. Gently cook, stirring constantly, until the meat is no longer red in the center. Allow to cool slightly.

Place the contents of the skillet in the food processor with the remaining ingredients. Process continuously until smooth. Spoon the pâté into a greased 1-cup mold, and chill until ready to serve.

Unmold and serve with your favorite crackers. Makes about 1 cup.

Duck Giblet Pâté

Ingredients:

1 cup duck gizzards, livers and hearts

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 hard-boiled egg

1 tablespoon liquid margarine

2 teaspoons vermouth

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Dice giblets, and discard any tough pieces of gristle. Place the giblets in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer 1 hour. Add a little water during cooking if necessary.

Drain the broth off the giblets and reserve. Put the cooked giblets and a hard-boiled egg in a blender, and blend at medium speed to a consistency of a thin paste. Add a little of the reserved broth if necessary to obtain the right consistency. Spoon into a mixing bowl, and stir in the margarine and vermouth. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper. Place in a serving dish, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Serve with party crackers as an hors d’oeuvere. Yield: 2 cups.

Quail Pâté With Cognac

Ingredients:

1/2 pound butter, creamed

2 shallots, finely chopped

1/8 teaspoon thyme

1 bay leaf, crushed

1/2 pound quail livers

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cognac

Directions:

Melt butter in a skillet. Add the shallots, thyme and bay leaf, and saute. Add the livers, and cook 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, stirring. Transfer the liver mixture to a food processor, and purée. Add salt, pepper and cognac, and process until smooth. Place in the refrigerator until serving time, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes until thick. Top with caviar or grated hard-boiled eggs. Serve with crusty bread slices or crackers.

Cream Cheese Pâté

Ingredients:

1/2 pound duck or goose livers

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup toasted almonds or pecans

Directions:

Use scissors to cut the livers into chunks. Saute them in butter heated in a nonstick skillet, adding in the broth, onion, curry powder, paprika and salt as the livers cook. Cook until tender, but no more than 10 minutes.

Cool the liver mixture slightly, and process in a food processor until smooth. (Elbow grease and a fork will substitute for the food processor.) Transfer to a bowl with the cream cheese, and fold all together until well blended. Cover, and chill several hours. Stir the nuts into the paté just before serving. Serve with crackers, rye bread or raw vegetables.

Upcoming Events