Sluttishly Savoury: Chicken Liver and Truffle Parfait

I adore pâté but you know what’s better that pâté? Parfait. Parfait is light, soft, smooth and melts in your mouth, I make mine extra special with the addition of a bit of truffle oil. I’m addicted to truffle oil, it's like sexy food glitter that makes certain dishes sparkle, you can buy a truly wonderful one from Cotswold Gold that uses British grown rapeseed oil. Just a drizzle of takes this dish to a whole new world of indulgence.

I make this using either chicken or rabbit livers, both taste fantastic and it freezes really well too.  Serve with toasted sourdough or even better: toasted brioche.

You'll need:

•      1kg chicken or rabbit livers, cleaned and trimmed of any sinew
•       225g butter
•        pinch dried sage/2 chopped fresh sage leaves
•       25ml sherry (Amontillado or a cream sherry)
•       50 ml brandy
•       50ml double cream
•       25ml truffle oil
•       salt and freshly ground black pepper
•       2 teaspoons pink peppercorns

Make it!

1.              Put 70g of your butter into a large, deep frying pan on a medium heat. Melt the rest of the butter in a separate saucepan or microwave and put to one side for later.
2.        Add the chopped sage and chicken livers to the frying pan and cook gently until they just start to brown on the outside. Add your sherry and cook for a further 2 minutes then add your brandy. Carefully flame your brandy so that the alcohol burns away and cook for a further minute then remove from heat.
3.       Using a slotted spoon transfer the livers into a food processor. Return the pan juices to the heat and reduce by half. 
4.       Add your truffle oil to the chicken livers and blitz in the food processor. Whilst it’s running pour in your cream and then add a few of spoonful’s of your cooking juices and blend until smooth.
5.       You now need to sieve this mixture. Push it though a sieve using a wooden spoon, I like to do this twice to ensure a really smooth parfait then either put it into individual ramekins or into one dish making sure that you leave about a 5 mm gap at the top.
6.       Your melted butter will have separated by now to give you a lovely golden clear liquid at the top and white milk solids at the bottom. Carefully spoon the clear liquid over the top of your parfait making sure it is completely covered. Top with a sprinkling of pink peppercorns and a fresh sage leaf and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours (preferably overnight) before eating to ensure a good set.