Chicken Liver Mousse
- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus 6 hours' refrigeration
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 6ounces chicken livers, cleaned, rinsed, and patted dry
- Salt, pink peppercorns, for seasoning
- Grapeseed oil or canola oil, for searing
- 1shallot, finely minced
- 4sprigs thyme, leaves only
- 1teaspoon chopped marjoram
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1tablespoon cognac
- ¼ cup heavy cream, warm
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
301 calories; 29 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 6 grams protein; 224 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Season chicken livers with salt and freshly ground pink peppercorns.
- Step 2
Heat a large sauté pan coated with oil over medium heat. Add chicken livers and sear lightly on one side. Immediately add the shallots, thyme and marjoram. Continue to cook together for 2 minutes or so. Flip the livers and sear for an additional 1½ to 2 minutes until the livers are firm and pink in the center. Add lemon zest and cognac, and cook until it is nearly dry.
- Step 3
Transfer immediately to a blender, pour in the cream and blend on medium speed, gradually adding the butter. Blend until completely smooth.
- Step 4
Pour mixture into ramekins or jars. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the wrap to the surface of the mousse so that it doesn’t oxidize. Chill in the refrigerator until set, roughly 4 to 6 hours. This can be made a day in advance if needed.
- Mousse can be served with a crusty baguette, chestnut honey, toasted hazelnuts, fresh parsley leaves and thinly-sliced radishes.
Private Notes
Comments
If you are making this during any old pandemic lockdown, you must at least double the cognac - 2T is still very little, and serve for breakfast. Yep, breakfast.
Made exactly according to recipe, yummy but far too much lemon for us. Next time might try 1/4 the amount, maybe even less
This was just delicious and made enough for 2 sessions of enjoying the mousse over crackers. I used only 3 TBsp of butter. It was more than enough to get the desired onctuousness.
Do not be afraid of the salt in the first step. I tend to undersalt in a first step and then correct later, but the salt is essential for drying out the (very moist) livers prior to cooking. And Sarah B is right: double the cognac.
Cre8 was brilliant with replacing the herbs with mustard. I used two small vidalia onions, 12 ounces of Chicken livers, 3/4 cup warmed heavy cream, only 5 TB of unsalted butter, 6T of Port, a splash of Cognac and salt and pepper to taste. Followed the basic cooking instructions and blitzed all in a Vitaprep on the smoothie setting. Turned out lovely. The Vitaprep made a silky, fluffy mousse with no need for a sieve. I did Prep the livers and removed much of the gross stringy bits before cooking.
Bear in mind that the livers will continue to cook even while being blended. Overcooked livers lose their virtues.