Apples of Lurve - Valentines Day Part 2

Has it really been a year? Is that where all the love is? In that last year?

I get so excited about the big red day. Sod the trashy, cheesey and crass cards, I like effort. The OH and I try not to get caught up in it all - he doesn't like the mass commercialism and I pretend not to....

This year I have a cunning plan. It's still all horrid and drizzly here with puddles rippling as people splish splosh through and we have no fire (the flue part is in the shed!), so we are making gestures in other ways to keep the fires in our hearts stoked(yeah right)

The OH is cooking me dinner! We are having his speciality dish of Mustard Chicken (he is very talented) with lyonnaise potatoes and baby sweetcorn. Admittedly, we have a heap of food we have to eat up in the fridge as we had a lot of family round at ours last week (gorgeous baby William who I actually wanted - he was so pugulistic in looks!!) I, on the other hand, will be presenting coffee and walnut muffins dressed temptingly in a red flowerpot, with red icing hearts, lots of lovely hearts and fluffy things on sticks as well as a big red heart balloon. He may think it's cheesey but I hope he likes it. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and Coffee and Walnut (well nut in this case) is definately a honey-boy favourite!

Recipe today is for Apple and Calvados Brandy Pate (hence the apples in the title of this post):

Core and peel one apple into quarters. Take each quarter and chop into neat segments. Pan fry with butter and a glug of Calvados until golden, and remove from heat.
Take 500g of chicken livers trimmed and pan fry in more butter with one clove of garlic and two finely chopped shallots. Add more Calvados (careful, no need to flambe!)and return three quarters of the apple to the pan. When the chicken livers are browned with a tinge of pink, blend all the ingredients until fine. Fold in remainder of the apple.

This actually a really quick recipe and luckily, can be served warm so if you need a nice little dish for your loved one tonight, maybe this is worth a shot.

I tend not to stick to strick weights and volume in this recipe as I find it really depends of the texture of pate that you prefer. This gives you a slightly drier and coarser (but not chunky) pate. This was adapted from Glyn Christians Sainsbury's cookbook of Pies, Pates and Terrines. A jolly handy little book. Enjoy.