Chicken liver paté
One of my favourites as a starter and chicken livers are cheap – currently 99p for 400 grams at Sainsburys. This recipe is from my late mother-in-law who was a fantastic cook.

400g chicken livers
75g butter
Glass of red wine
Three shallots, thinly sliced
Clove of garlic, chopped
Olive oil
Handful of bay leaves
Salt and pepper

Rinse off the chicken livers under the cold tap. Cut out any gristle – don’t go too mad, a bit won’t do any harm. Chop them up roughly.

Put the olive oil in a heavy frying pan on a low heat and add the garlic and shallots. Leave them on the heat until they are softened then add the chicken livers, the red wine and some seasoning. Fry until the livers are cooked through but not dried out.

Put the mixture in a bowl and add the butter. Give them a whack with your handheld blender or put the lot in your food processor. Either way, you want to create a consistent paste without turning it into a runny mush.

It will be a little runny at this stage, but that’s OK – it needs to set. Now spoon the mixture into a shallow bowl and arrange the bay leaves across the top of the pate. Cover in silver foil and leave in the fridge overnight. The next day, you’ll find that the consistency is perfect and the bay leaves make it slightly aromatic, in a good way.