Guilty Pleasure...

Ok, I know I come across as a committed carnivore, but actually I eat vegetarian alot of the time. I love quorn, I even like smoked tofu, but it has to be hard as opposed to silken, as yet I cannot pursue a love for the silken stuff...maybe one day. Today I am in the process of cooking curry, well many curries in fact. Two sisters from Queensland had the absolutely fabulous idea of portioning all the herbs and spices, in bags labelled in the order they needed to be used, to create a perfect curry. One of these sisters was a school friend of my ex-husband, and after separating we decided to take on a franchise, selling their wonderful products in the area we live in. Hey! I never said I was conventional. So I have spent the last few days grinding their wonderful spices, and making batch after batch of curry for a tasting party on Sunday. So when I was shopping today, after my Indian nights filled cooking excursions I caught sight of a pack of chicken livers...and knew, just knew I had to eat them for dinner. Dr, Atkins would have been proud. Ok, so after children had enjoyed home-made burgers and salad( guess who??) and corn-on-the-cob, and my latest curry was simmering away I put a frypan on to the heat to get REALLY hot whilst I prepared everything else. The livers went into a freezer bag Nigella style with a handful of flour, and lavish amounts of salt and pepper. I chopped some garlic finely, then put butter with a little vegetable oil into the by now smoking pan, quickly added the garlic, one quick stir, and then chucked in the bag of floured livers. Now the casual cook will be tempted now to stir, or generally mess about with the livers. DO NOT. leave them for about 2 minutes, then turn over, you will be so happy when you see how they have got gorgeous crusted bits here and there on their surface. Leave the livers for 2 minutes on the other side, then add a glug of brandy, or white wine, or even sherry I guess, listen to that fabulous sizzle, and smell all that alcohol burning away ( not something I would normally rejoice over-so you know it is worth it). Remove from heat, and leave for a few minutes in the hot pan, the booze will get all syrupy, and coat the crusted browned livers. Now you could add salad, and to be fair these are so rich that rocket, watercress, or even endive dressed simply with olive oil and lemon juice would work. But I am greedy, and still nursing a dog who for all his charm, is as destructive as a land grenade. So I just tipped them onto a plate, ate what i could, and then blended what I couldn't with some cream( about a tablespoon) and more butter, and I have tomorrow's toast topping for breakfast. Divine, and for everyone who is thinking, "eewwww", I can only point out that if you eat pate then you have no reason to judge, and all the more to give it a go, think of it as deconstructed pate, but better!!!  And if you are wondering why my spelling of pate does not have the fabulous accent on the 'e', well it is because I do not know how to put it there, not because I do not know it needs it!