Category
Starter
Serves
8
Prep
20 minutes
Cook
1 1/2 hours
Ingredients
14 fresh sage leaves12 rindless lightly smoked streaky bacon rashers250g pigs liver (ask your butcher to remove the membrane and tough ventricles)250g minced pork2 cloves garlic finely crushed2 slices wholemeal bread - made into breadcrumbs1 onion peeled and very finely choppedFreshly ground black pepperLarge pinch freshly grated nutmeg2 tbsp brandy or port - optionalFor the Melba ToastFor the Beetroot Salad
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to l70'C/325'F/gas mark 3. Lay enough sage leaves to make a row along the middle of a 1lb loaf tin and then rest about 8 or 9 bacon rashers on top of the sage, slightly overlapping, to line the tin
- Cut the remaining bacon into small pieces and finely chop the remaining sage leaves and put them into a bowl. Trim the pig livers and chop these into really small pieces and add to the bowl
- Add the minced pork, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic and nutmeg (and port if using) and mix everything together really well
- Push the mixture into the loaf tin, cover with greased foil and put into a roasting tin. Half fill the roasting tin with boiling water and then cook for 1 1/2 hours
- To test if the pate is cooked push a skewer into the pate and if the juices are at all pink then you should cook for another 15 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin and then put into the fridge overnight
- For the Melba Toast,Turn the grill on inside your oven or if you don't have a grill, turn the oven on to l80'C/350T/gas mark 4
- Rest the bread on a baking tray and toast the bread on both sides under the grill
- Cut each slice of bread in half widthways so that you have twice as many thin slices and cut each thin slice into quarters (4 triangles) and put back on to the baking tray
- Toast for a minute or until the edges curl up slightly
- For the Beetroot Salad,Chop the beetroot into small pieces. Chop the spring onion into small pieces. Put the beetroot, onion and parsley into a bowl and mix together. Add the lemon juice and olive oil and season to taste
- Serve the pate with the beetroot relish and Melba toast.
