I sometimes struggle with translations. Wikipedia says pasztet = pate, but I don’t trust it, I’m almost sure I’ve seen more appropriate name somewhere. For a moment I will assume it’s correct, but do tell me if you know a proper name. Whenever I tell somebody what I have been cooking, I end up reciting a simplified recipe.
So this type of pate is basically meat cake, that is made of cooked liver and other meats like beef, pork, venison and some veggies. All is then minced, and then it is baked. Voila!
I usually served it sliced on a slice of bread. I love a sandwich with pate, sliced tomatoes, and chopped chives. Pasztet is something that my parent would usually bake for Christmas and Easter (occasionally for different events as well). There is no proper recipe as you can make it from any type of meat in proportions, that suit you. Just keep in mind that pate needs enough of fat to be moist and have a good flavor. For the same reason, you add a layer of bacon. And a tip from my mom, don’t add too much of liver as it will become too bitter.
Polish pate – pasztet
Ingredients
- 250g beef, diced
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 allspice berries
- 4 black peppercorns
- 280g pork shoulder, diced
- 140g bacon, diced
- a handful of dried porcini mushrooms
- 2 carrots
- 1 parsnip
- 1 onion
- 250g chicken liver
- 1 bread roll
- a handful of green parsley, chopped
- 2 eggs (egg whites and yolks separately)
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg
- marjoram
- 200g streaky bacon, sliced thinly
Directions
Put beef, bay leaves, allspice berries and peppercorns in a large pan. Cover it with cold water. Set the pan over high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, add pork shoulder, diced bacon, porcini mushrooms, carrots, parsnip, and onion. Simmer until meat and vegetables are tender (around 1 – 1 1/2 hour).
Add the liver and cook for a few minutes (it doesn’t need much). Take the meat, liver, and veggies out of the water and let it cool down. Soak the bread roll in the remaining water for a minute or two. Squeeze out the excess of the water.
Grind the cooled down meats and vegetables at least twice. Mix the minced mixture, soaked bread roll and chopped parsley in a large bowl. Season it with salt, pepper, nutmeg, marjoram. Taste it and adjust seasoning if needed. Stir in egg yolks until combined.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks and stir it into the mixture.
Line a loaf tin with parchment paper. Arrange bacon strips alongside one another in the bottom of the loaf pan.
Bake in a preheated oven to 180°C/160°C fan for an hour or until the top starts getting golden.
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