Creamy Chicken Liver Pâté

We are in sandwich-eating mood and we scour our fridge for the available spread that we could use. We have both our all-time favorites’ chicken sandwich and tuna sandwich spreads, several types of sweet jam, some margarine and butter as well as slices of Cheddar, processed and Gouda cheeses. But none of them excites our palates this time. We have been regularly eating them and our taste buds are probably somewhat tired and wanting something different. Not necessarily new, but at least something we have not eaten in a long time.

Then I remembered I have half a kilo of chicken liver which I wanted to prepare into chicken liver pâté ……… and the excitement started to build-up. For most Filipinos who grew up with the country’s popular liver spread (Reno Brand) in their everyday sandwiches, especially with “pandesal” or Filipino bread roll, liver pâté is an expensive but sufficient alternative when living abroad.

In general, pâté is a mixture of ground meat and fat or butter blended into a spreadable paste. Common additions include vegetables, herbs, spices, wine and cream. In French or Belgian cuisine, pâté may be baked in a crust as pie or loaf or baked in a terrine or other mold or earthenware. The most famous pâté is probably “pâté de foie gras”, made from the fattened livers of geese, the tastiest liver for me.

In the European countries of Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Sweden and Austria, some liver pâtés are shaped as a soft, often spreadable sausage, called “leverworst” in Dutch or “Leberwurst” in German. In the United States these are sometimes referred to as "liverwurst", a combination of English and German. Some “liverwurst” can be sliced and used as sandwich filler while others are spreadable, like the type popular in the UK and my father’s favorite. Yes, he keeps a good stock of a certain “liverwurst” product in his room. :-)

R&G Reviews Taylors Eye Witness Veritable Sabatier's Cooks Knife

One fundamental requisites of cooking is cutting. In some food preparation, this accounts for more than 50% of the entire time required in the cooking process. Therefore, a good cutting and slicing implement is an important component of anyone’s kitchen. Seriously, if you have a strong passion in cooking and food preparation then you should have a keen eye in finding a good, not necessarily the best, chef’s knife or cook’s knife………one that could safely and effectively respond to your specific kitchen requirements ………… it may not always be true or applicable to others but particularly tailored to your needs.

As mentioned in my post about CSN Stores’ offer last month, I am to review one of their quality products which as per my sharp choice is a 25-cm Taylors Eye Witness Veritable Sabatier Cooks Knife. I love outdoors……..I love cooking ……..I love fishing……….I love camping………I love hunting (although it’s been quite a long time since our last expedition….:-( )………of course, it should follow that I love knife…….especially high quality cutlery that could withstand the rough and tough demand and condition of outdoors environment.

To provide a good review, I tried to understand the over-all components and mechanics of a chef’s knife. And in order that even non-chef or non-foodies for that matter, could understand the technical terms that I will be using when referring to particular part or parts of this Sabatier Cooks Knife, let me provide you an illustrative guide on the basic parts of a typical chef’s knife.

Fresh Fruits for Dessert

Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food such as cakes like banana cake and chocolate cake, cookies, pastries, ice cream, candies, puddings, chocolate bars, sweetened fruits like “banana que” and sweetened banana, sweet delicacies and my favorite, fresh fruits. Dessert is an important part of a meal as it enlivens the eating satisfaction to a higher level. Sort of completing the food intake to a point where taste buds will attain a state of pure pleasure and will temporarily shutdown in craving for foods or anything. :-)

Fresh fruit is my preferred dessert for every meal. With so many good things being attributed to fruits I guess no elaboration is really needed. However, it is worth mentioning that fruit provides energy in the form of natural sugars which our body can extract without even feeling fulfilled. Said sugars are digested in a short period in a chemical process with no toxic waste byproduct. Fruit also contains substantial amount of the important fibers and high percentage of water which is almost the same water percentage of the human body at 80%.

Being in a tropical country like the Philippines, we are blessed with many varieties of fruits available to everyone at a relatively low cost here in Sri Lanka. I have featured before some of the local harvests of fresh fruits in season as well as the remarkable king coconut and banana which we enjoy all year round. There are many more which I hope to post one by one or in groups in the future.

For dessert we usually have, as shown above, pineapple. It is the crunchy-sweet variety which is also a favorite of our Japanese friends.

For very good source of natural sugars + water, we have water melon and melon which provide a refreshing dessert at the end of a satisfying full Filipino meal during weekends. :-)

Imported fruits also make a good dessert although not quite cheap here. Grapes, apple, oranges and seedless water melon are perfect at the end of a sumptuous meal during special occasions.

As we get old, our interest in nutrition increases and we are getting more conscious about what we eat. Consequently, our interest in fruit and its contents grows. As expected, more and more people are now eating fruits for dessert. c“,)

Whole-Wheat French Toast with Fresh Strawberries

I have just prepared and posted a basic French Toast recipe last week. However, the cravings persisted so I have to prepare it again. But since I have already featured the easy and simple way of doing it, this time I decided to make it more elaborate……..a bit special you may say……..with a touch of fresh fruits based on a recipe provided by one of our members who found it online. :-) The recipe also calls for the use of whole-wheat bread instead of the ordinary breakfast bread which is a welcome change for the benefit of weight-washers like me. Yes, I watch my weight as it continues to go up. J

This preparation should be exciting as the combination of French toast and fruit for breakfast is not a common fare to us. Though I have prepared pancakes topped with sweetened banana before, French toast with a fruit topping, though common and I have eaten in Western restaurants, will be a new experience to prepare at home. But what makes me less exciting is the fruit to be incorporated in the dish.......it’s a strawberry. :-) Don’t wonder, while most people are fascinated with the fragrant, juicy and tasty strawberry, I am not. :-(

But since all our members love strawberries and probably most of you too, the show must go on. I just thought while our members will enjoy their French toast with strawberry toppings, I will eat mine with good old butter. :-) And since I will be posting the preparation in this blog, which is more about cooking than eating, then we should proceed. So fire!

The ingredients needed are 4 slices whole-wheat bread, 3 tbsp strawberry jam (we only have strawberry flavored melon spread), 1 cup fresh strawberries, 1 large egg, 1 large egg white, 2/3 cup low-fat milk, 1½ tsp vanilla extract, a pinch of ground nutmeg and 1 tbsp unsalted butter for frying. Of course you can just double the quantities if you will be serving it to big group like ours.

In a small mixing bowl, place the sliced fresh strawberry and add in the jam or spreadable fruit. Stir carefully until blended.

For the rest of the procedures, simply follow the instruction in my previous French toast post. In another shallow bowl, beat the egg, egg white then add the milk and stir. Add in the vanilla extract and nutmeg and continue beating with a fork until blended. Keep the excess one egg yolk for later use or just fried it in the pan after the toast and use as topping along with butter as what I did.

I a non-stick or well seasoned skillet, melt ¼ tbsp butter over medium heat. Dip a bread slice into the egg mixture, letting it soak briefly on both sides. Don’t over soaked the bread as it will suck up all the egg mixture and we might end up with only two slices of toast instead of four. Fry the soaked slice bread in the skillet. Cook until lightly golden or about 3 minutes per side. Turn once only.

Keep the cooked French toast warm. Either in an oven, preheated to lowest temperature or in an air tight cooler. Repeat with the remaining bread slices, adding the remaining ¾ tablespoon butter as needed.

Arrange the still hot French toast in a serving plate and top with the gorgeous strawberry mixture. Wow…….....Yummy! I know you’ll love it. :-O

Serve immediately with your favorite fruit juice or coffee or tea. It’s lusciously good.

Where is mine topped with just butter…………….and fried egg yolk? c“, )

French Toast

Our group’s usual breakfast, as prepared by our cook (company provided), for Tuesday and Thursday, composed mainly of bread, egg and fried sausage or hotdog or any other processed meat. While we all love fried eggs and hotdogs or sausages, sometimes we get the feeling that we desire different preparation for the ever reliable egg and bread tandem. For a change, I decided to make French toast one day. I have been craving for such for quite a long time and I thought is also an opportunity for me to post the easy yet very satisfying breakfast meal.

French toast, also called “eggy” bread or gypsy toast in UK, is a popular breakfast food in North America, Europe and Bermuda. Typically it is made with bread and eggs along with milk or sugar which are commonly added. Many other spices that are added in the cooking process are depending on the local cuisine or the individual’s preference. For me, I usually use cinnamon powder and/or vanilla extract to make a heavenly French toast. In general, this versatile dish is often topped with powder sugar, butter, fruit, syrup, jam, whipped cream, marmalade, cheese, bacon, marmite, treacle or honey to name a few.

In making the dish, slices of bread are dipped in a beaten egg and sugar mixture. The egg-coated bread are then placed on a frying pan or griddle prepared with a coat of butter or oil, and cooked until both sides are browned and the egg has cooked through. The cooked slices are then served with toppings of your choice. I like cheese and ham or bacon for toppings. Butter and maple syrup could also work for me. :-)

To cook my version of French toast the following ingredients are needed: slices of bread, eggs, fresh milk, cinnamon powder, butter and any toppings you prefer.

For easy understanding, preparation is presented on a per egg basis. You can double, triple, and so on, the quantities depending on the number of persons it is going to be served. In a mixing bowl, break one egg and beat lightly. Add ½ cup of milk and dash of cinnamon powder and whisk to mix evenly. If you like your toast to be sweet, you can add some sugar at this point and whisk again until dissolved. This egg-milk mixture is good for 2 slices of bread.

Dip both sides of the first bread in the egg-milk mixture until the bread soaked up the mixture. Meanwhile, in a non-stick pan, heat about 1 tsp butter.

Fry the first mixture-soaked bread until golden brown and you can see marbled portions of egg mixture. Flip and cook the underside. Do the same for the other bread. Transfer the French toast in a plate and serve immediately.

As I mentioned above, toppings depend on your likings. Butter and syrup is commonly available and thus it is my usual accompaniment for this wonderful bread–egg breakfast meal. Enjoy! It’s yummy! c“,)

I better start teaching our cook to prepare this……...for some additional variations in his breakfast preparation. :)