When I think of liver, I am drawn back to my school days when we were given a dish called ‘floating meat’. Served as a Wednesday mid-week treat, the liver/donkey was boiled for approximately 24 hours before being slopped into a far from Bisto gravy. So, it was a long time before I could think of liver as something vaguely palatable. Luckily this paté is an upgrade from those ‘halcyon’ school days. For a start it has got a lot of booze in, secondly it has a lot of butter in and thirdly it doesn’t taste like liver. I served mine with some fabulous plum preserve made by Chazwinkle’s (you can purchase this from Daylesford Farm Shop).

Ingredients (serves 6-8 as a starter).

• 225g/8ozs chicken livers
• 110g/4ozs butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  
• 1 small bouquet garni
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  
• 1-2 tablespoons sherry

 Method:

1. Chop the onion and garlic finely and soften in 1 oz butter.
2. Add livers, herbs and seasoning and fry together for about 3 minutes.
3. Cool,then blitz working in the remaining butter and add the sherry. Chill before serving.

Directions for use: Get rid of school demons and give it a go.