By Kristen Kish
- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus 6 hours' refrigeration
- Rating
- 4(304)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Featured in: A Woman’s Place Is Running the Kitchen
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings.
- 6ounces chicken livers, cleaned, rinsed, and patted dry
- Salt, pink peppercorns, for seasoning
- Grapeseed oil or canola oil, for searing
- 1shallot, finely minced
- 4sprigs thyme, leaves only
- 1teaspoon chopped marjoram
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1tablespoon cognac
- ¼ cup heavy cream, warm
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
301 calories; 29 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 6 grams protein; 224 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Season chicken livers with salt and freshly ground pink peppercorns.
Step
2
Heat a large sauté pan coated with oil over medium heat. Add chicken livers and sear lightly on one side. Immediately add the shallots, thyme and marjoram. Continue to cook together for 2 minutes or so. Flip the livers and sear for an additional 1½ to 2 minutes until the livers are firm and pink in the center. Add lemon zest and cognac, and cook until it is nearly dry.
Step
3
Transfer immediately to a blender, pour in the cream and blend on medium speed, gradually adding the butter. Blend until completely smooth.
Step
4
Pour mixture into ramekins or jars. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the wrap to the surface of the mousse so that it doesn’t oxidize. Chill in the refrigerator until set, roughly 4 to 6 hours. This can be made a day in advance if needed.
Tip
- Mousse can be served with a crusty baguette, chestnut honey, toasted hazelnuts, fresh parsley leaves and thinly-sliced radishes.
Ratings
4
out of 5
304
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Sarah B
If you are making this during any old pandemic lockdown, you must at least double the cognac - 2T is still very little, and serve for breakfast. Yep, breakfast.
K
Made exactly according to recipe, yummy but far too much lemon for us. Next time might try 1/4 the amount, maybe even less
JM
This was just delicious and made enough for 2 sessions of enjoying the mousse over crackers. I used only 3 TBsp of butter. It was more than enough to get the desired onctuousness.
Celia
Sieve it after step 3. Takes out the tiny thyme leaves that didn't get cooked and makes the mousse smoother. Takes about 5 mins more and is a little messy (use a wide-mouth bowl to catch it) but very worth the effort.
dhwsmith
Bear in mind that the livers will continue to cook even while being blended. Overcooked livers lose their virtues.
Warren A
Way too much butter.Used old Fegato a la Veniziana. Delicious.
Paulina
A lot of work and exotic ingredients that dont really come out against the liver and butter (pink pepper, marjoram). You buy cheap liver and end up spending 10x as much on the rest...Taste and texture is good but wont make again.
JM
This was just delicious and made enough for 2 sessions of enjoying the mousse over crackers. I used only 3 TBsp of butter. It was more than enough to get the desired onctuousness.
Sarah B
If you are making this during any old pandemic lockdown, you must at least double the cognac - 2T is still very little, and serve for breakfast. Yep, breakfast.
Celia
Made it again, with 1/4-1/3 less lemon. Also, increased the salt a scoch. Finally, took 2 T cognac and reduced it over heat to 1T. Great.
Spencer
This was great, I used Orange liquor instead ofCongac as it was all I had on hand. Truly a crowd pleaser. Rich and decadent:
Celia
Sieve it after step 3. Takes out the tiny thyme leaves that didn't get cooked and makes the mousse smoother. Takes about 5 mins more and is a little messy (use a wide-mouth bowl to catch it) but very worth the effort.
Jenny
Can this be made a few days in advance?
cre8
I tweaked the recipe a bit. Instead of using the herbs, I used 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard. Instead of cognac, I used port and omitted the lemon zest following another recipe I have for chicken liver pate. But the addition of heavy cream instead of cream cheese from my recipe makes all the difference. Delicious!!
Pickled onions on the side
Is there a suggested recipe for the pickled onions ? That looks good too. I guess they are fresh parsley leaves and thinly-sliced radishes.
K
Made exactly according to recipe, yummy but far too much lemon for us. Next time might try 1/4 the amount, maybe even less
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