Rabbit Liver Pâté with Slow Onions
By Lee Jackson ↣ Published on: December 19, 2012
Rabbit liver Pâté is of life’s great indulgences – my recipe creates a light, creamy parfait-style pâté – perfect when spread generously over crusty sourdough with sweet caramelised onions.
I just love this rabbit liver pâté! I'm relatively new to the offal game. I resisted for many many years, put off by the horrible overcooked liver and kidney I was forced to eat as a kid. The parental stand-offs were epic. I often hid pieces of rubbery kidney up my sleeves, until my brother ratted me out.
Now that I've cured myself, I must turn to the delicious ingredient of liver! And especially pâté and parfait. Parfait is essentially a lighter version of pâté, using whipping cream (double cream) to lighten the texture.
Why it works...
I first sampled rabbit liver while taking a butchery course in Sydney. We learned how to butcher chicken, duck, goose and rabbit. We get to keep everything we'd butchered so I went home with bagfuls of poultry that night. Most of the ladies also taking the course were horrified at the thought of eating liver so I also returned with about 4lb of mixed livers! There was pâté aplenty in the following weeks.
Rabbit liver has a similar flavour to chicken, but with a light gamey, flavourful taste. It's super delicious and special. So, whenever you can grab hold of rabbit livers - do it! The recipe works just as well for chicken or duck liver, so don't worry in the slightest if that's all you can find.
I love to serve my parfait/pâté with slow cooked onions - cooked for a long time in Fino sherry to bring out all the sweetness of the onion, which pairs perfectly with the gamey, irony pâté. It's a decadent, rich and other-worldly combination.
Stuff You'll Need
To make this creamy rabbit liver pâté is pretty simple. Here's where all the flavour comes from.
- Rabbit livers - they can be hard to track down, but they offer a unique flavour. You can use chicken liver if you can't hunt them out.
- Butter - for flavour!
- Shallots, garlic, thyme, parsley - add the fragrant backbone to the pâté.
- Fino sherry - is my most favourite alcohol to use in cooking. It has an oak fulled smoky flavour and fragrance that just levels-up the flavour to new heights.
- Cream - the cream is whipped and gently stirred into the pâté to make it light and airy.
For the onions I like to use:
- A sweet yellow or red onion
- Olive oil - for slow frying
- Garlic and oregano - for more fragrance
- Fino sherry - for its unique flavour
- Chicken broth - to add a more complex layer of flavour
- Salt & sugar - to balance out the flavour.
Step by Step
It might seem a little intimidating to make a pâté, but it's really pretty easy. Here's how.
- Step 1 - Remove the sinew and skin from the livers and set aside.
- Step 2 - Fry the onion and garlic in the butter for a few minutes until soft
- Step 3 - Add the livers, and fry for a couple of minutes then add the sherry, parsley, thyme an season with salt & pepper. Let this sizzle briefly to burn off the alcohol then remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 mins.
- Step 4 - Using a blender of your choice, blend the livers until creamy.
- Step 5 - Pass this creamy pate through a fine sieve and discard the stuff that doesn't make it through.
- Step 6 - Whip the cream in a separate bowl until stiff. Gently fold the cream into the pâté until fully incorporated.
- Step 7 - Tip the pate into a bowl and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until you need.
For the onions:
- Step 1 - Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a moderate heat until hot then add the onion, garlic and oregano. Fry the onions for 4-5 minutes until softened then add the sherry. Let this sizzle briefly then add the chicken stock, salt and sugar. Let this come to a simmer then reduce the heat to low so that the onions are very gently simmering. Cook for 1 hour uncovered, stirring regularly. If the liquid is absorbed, add a little amount of water at a time to keep things creamy.
Serving & Storage Suggestions
- You can store both the pâté and the onions in the fridge for up to a week. Be sure to cover tightly in plastic wrap.
- I don't recommend freezing either
Ready to get cooking?
Home made pâté is head and shoulders more delicious than anything I've ever bought in a store. If you're every fortunate enough to get your hands on rabbit liver then you simply MUST try this recipe. But fear not, this recipe works equally well using chicken or duck liver. It's so complex and flavourful and just a triumph when paired with the sweet jammy onions. For me, this is a real treat of a dish reserved for special occasions, festive showing-off or just a night in on my own with a loaf of sourdough. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
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Ingredients
- 8 oz rabbit liver (cleaned and sinew removed, then cut into chunks) You can also use chicken liver instead!
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 shallots (peeled and finely diced)
- 1 garlic clove (finely chopped)
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (removed from stem and finely chopped)
- 1 tsp parsley (finely chopped)
- ½ cup Fino sherry (or dry marsala)
- salt & pepper
- 3 tbsp whipping cream
For the onion jam
- 4 onions (cat in half and thinly sliced)
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- 1 tbsp oregano (chopped)
- ½ cup Fino sherry (or dry marsala)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
Instructions
For the Pâté
- Melt the butter in a small pan until bubbling. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently for 5 minutes until golden brown and soft.
- Add the liver and cook for 2 minutes before adding the sherry, parsley, thyme salt & pepper stir for 1-2 minutes to burn off the alcohol and reduce the sherry. Remove from heat, then leave for 10 minutes to cool.
- Place everything in a food processor and blend for a few minutes until the pâté is smooth.
- Using a fine sieve, pass the pate through the sieve with a spatula to weed out any solids. Keep only the stuff that makes it through the sieve. This can be a messy business - sorry about that!
- In a separate bowl, whisk the cream until you have stiff peaks.
- Gently fold the cream into the pâté until it's all mixed through. Tip the pâté into a ramekin or bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressed into the surface to stop any skin forming. Refrigerate until you need.
- I like it served at room temperature, so remove from the fridge about an hour before you're serving.
For the onion jam
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a moderate heat until hot then add the onion, garlic and oregano. Fry the onions for 4-5 minutes until softened then add the sherry. Let this sizzle briefly then add the chicken stock, salt and sugar. Let this come to a simmer then reduce the heat to low so that the onions are very gently simmering.
- Cook for 1 hour uncovered, stirring regularly. If the liquid is absorbed, add a little amount of water at a time to keep things creamy.
- After 1 hour, if there is any liquid, turn up the heat and cook til it's gone. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
Serving
- Serve the pâté on toasted crusty bread with lots of onion jam over and good sprinkling of fresh parsley.
This is just what I’m looking for. I can also use chicken livers, so this is great. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks – It’s just perfect with chicken livers too. Hope you enjoy!
Absolutely delicious- thank you
Thank you! I wish I could find some rabbit liver right now!
Hi…just came across your recipe, which sounds good and am eager to try it. I wonder if you could answer a couple of questions, though. I buy rabbits, frozen, from a butcher and each package has the liver in it. Each time I thaw 1 or 1 1/2 rabbits there is only a small amount of liver, today it was 5oz/142g. Do you think it would be alright to refreeze the livers so I cold wait until I had more of them and could make a larger batch of pate? The second question is, is there any reason why it couldn’t be reheated in a small pan of butter and eaten warm?
Thanks so much!
Linda
Hi Linda,
Thanks for the comment… In answer, refreezing is fine, so long as it’s done quickly after thawing. If you can get them out before complete thawing, all the better.
What I sometimes do is make up some weight by adding a little chicken livers (which are more readily available). Makes for a tasty combination of flavours.
Also, eating warm in butter like you suggested is a delicious way to enjoy liver, with some crusty breads… Hmmmm… I’m hungry now!
Hope this helps…
Lee
Thanks it is delicious!!! We raise rabbit’s so I made a double batch w sherry. Haven’t made the onion jam yet don’t think you need it. Thank’s for helping me use the whole rabbit.
Hi Lindsay,
Glad you’re enjoying all those rabbit livers! You really should give the onions a try too, surprisingly tasty together! Thanks for the comment.
Lee
Sounds great. Thanks for sharing. I love the taste madeira brings to anything – I imagine/hope it was tasty!
I bought a rabbit (raised locally) and with it came the liver. So, I was looking for recipes for rabbit liver and came across this. I haven’t eaten it yet, just prepared it, but warm it seems just fine, had to taste for seasoning. I’ll let you know the verdict after it has cooled a bit. I didn’t have any sherry on hand so I used Madeira, which is as close to sherry as I had.