Rhonda's Chicken Liver Pate

Directions

1. Several hours or the night before you want to make the pate, pour over dry sherry to cover the chicken livers and allow to marinate in the refrigerator.
2. Once livers have marinated, discard the sherry and dry the livers a bit by pouring into a strainer and giving it a good shake over the sink.
3. In a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onions and saute till soft, about 7 minutes.
4. Add chicken livers and seasonings (salt, pepper, turmeric, paprika and nutmeg) and saute 10 minutes or till cooked through.
5. Scrape everything into a blender and allow to cool a bit. Meanwhile, turn up the heat under the skillet and deglaze the pan with 1/3 cup of sherry. Add this to blender, too.
6. Add remaining 5 Tablespoons of butter to the mixture and secure blender lid (I hold a dishcloth in my hand and keep that hand on the lid - just in case!)
7. Puree mixture till very smooth, adding a bit more butter or sherry, as needed.
8. Pour mixture into a pretty serving dish, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool and set in the fridge.
9. Serve with crackers, toasted baguette slices, gherkin pickles, chopped onion, etc. If you want to make canapes, the pate can be put into a pastry bag and piped onto toast rounds or endive leaves. It's especially tasty piped into pitted dates.
10. To make my most recent version of this pate, substitute dry rose wine for the sherry and use 1 1/2 lbs chicken livers, skipping the mushrooms. Also add the zest of one lemon and 1 Tablespoon minced fresh dill to the mixture in the blender, omitting the turmeric, paprika and nutmeg in the recipe.