Country Style Pâté a la Paulette

Now I won’t lie, I hesitated to name this pate a la Paulette since I kinda played fast and loose with her recipe, but since she loves me I know she’ll forgive my running with it. My BFF Paulette, as I’ve mentioned previously, is a foodie like me and loves to play in the kitchen. DH and I were visiting her in London a couple of years ago and she served this gorgeous pate, which you slice – it’s not spreadable and has no liver in it – cold and as part of a visually stunning buffet. I made it a few times and made a bunch of changes to make it easier to prepare and I was pleased with the end results. It can be served warm or cold and is quite beautiful with layers of color and flavors.

This has a bunch of ingredients but is easy to put together and gives you a lot of bang for your buck, so to speak, in that it’s super elegant and appropriate for a fancy dinner but not hard to do. So, if you haven’t any prepared sauteed onions, start with that, sautee the onion in the oil till soft and deep yellow to light brown.

Again, this is something I do all the time, this is a big pot of onions which I prepare in bulk (sometimes caramelizing them) and separate and freeze the extra for future use so I have when I need it. You only are using about 2-3 heaping tablespoons of this.

Now organize your ingredients and preheat your oven to 350 F/180 C.

You are going to cook the loaves (the recipe makes 2 loaves, don’t halve the recipe! Even if you are a small crowd, make both and freeze one, they freeze very, very well) in a bain-marie or water bath. No worries, super easy to do. Patience, we will get to it. K. Onward

In a large bowl, place the sauteed onion

Add the chopped beef, chopped pistachios, egg,

add spices and scotch.

A note, I do not add any salt or pepper since between the salami and the pastrami you have all the salt and pepper you need and it cooks into the mixture. If you were to add any, you’d over salt and over pepper the pate.

and chop the dried cherries and slice up the salami in chunks

Note I keep the salami in fairly large chunks. This is on purpose so that they will be noticeable when you slice the pate and their flavor pops this way as well.

Now mix all together.

As you can see the chunks peek out and you see the bits of pistachio and cherry. Good.

Now take a pan big enough to hold 2 loaf pans with extra space and oil spray your loaf pans.

Be generous with the greasing of the pans since you want the pate to release easily. Next line the tins with your pastrami on the bottom, leaving enough to be able to cover the top of the loaves afterward.

Now put about half the chopped beef mixture, evenly divided between the two pans and pat down lightly like so:

Doesn’t that already look gorgeous? Okay, now gently lay the (raw) chicken shnitzel on top and try to cover the chopped beef completely (wiggle them about as needed) since this gives you the shocking and beautiful pop of white in the layering.

That’s a bit of dark cherry on top there, no worries. Do this for the second loaf as well, natch. Now divide the remaining chopped beef mixture and place on top of shnitzel. Then cover with the rest of the pastrami.

Excellent. Now all you do is take boiling water and (careful! don’t burn yourself!) pour into the bottom pan carefully, (making sure not to pour into your loaf pans) about halfway up the tins. To be clear, this is the water bath that the loaves cook in so the water is outside the two loaf pans in the outer pan. Then cover the whole lot with tin foil and cover tightly. Carefully using mitts if needed (remember the bottom of the pan is now hot) open the hot oven and carefully slide your pan in. Cook for about an hour or till everything is properly cooked including the chicken shnitzel in the middle. Now is the hard part – patience is needed! Let it sit and cool down and really if you can, refrigerate till cold. It slices far far better when cold and if you wish to gently rewarm, you can although this is fab cold. You can serve on a platter, sliced but I think plating it is far more gorgeous. The dark cherry adds another note of flavor so try not to skip it. Serve at your fanciest dinner and wait for the compliments!

Country Style Pâté a la Paulette

1 small onion chopped
1-2 tablespoons oil
1 kilo (2.2 pounds) chopped/minced beef
300 grams salami (10.5 ounces) cut into large cubes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons brandy or scotch
1 large egg
40 grams (1/4 cup) pistachio nuts
40 grams (1/4 cup) dried cherries (preferably tart dried cherries)
6 thin slices raw chicken shnitzel
88 grams (3 ounces) thinly sliced pastrami
oil spray for greasing pans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.

Sautee the onion in the oil till deep yellow till light brown and softened. Put into a large bowl and add chopped beef, cubed salami, thyme, scotch, egg, pistachios and chopped dried cherries. Mix well.

Take two loaf pans and spray well with oil spray (or grease with oil). Line the loaf tins with half the pastrami, on the bottom of the tins. Take half the chopped beef mixture and divide evenly between the two loaf pans and gently pat in on top of meat mixture. Take the thinly sliced shnitzels and arrange over the meat mixture, covering it as best you can. Divide the remaining meat mixture in the bowl between the two tins and gently press on top of the shnitzel. Take the rest of the pastrami and divide evenly between the loaf pans and cover the tops of the shnitzels with it. Cover the loaf pans with tin foil.

Place the filled loaf pans into a deep pan and pour hot water halfway up the sides of the tins (do not pour water into the tins, this is a water bath to cook the mixtures in, goes on the outside in the outer pan).

Bake in oven for 1 hour or till fully cooked. Let cool completely, preferably chill in fridge till firm. Slice and plate individually with two tone lettuce and strawberries or unmold onto serving tray and use lettuce or parsley to decorate. Beautiful, elegant and incredibly flavorful, this is dinner party or holiday worthy.