New month new hobby...New recipes!

I had planned on doing Cross-fit but this month's schedule was too busy to start it.  Instead, I plan on cooking recipes which I have never done before. I recently had a duck liver pate at a local restaurant that my wife and I were fighting over who got to lick the bowl.  I have never attempted a pate and we recently bought a share of a grass-fed cow which luckily I had selected the heart and liver.  So, I will be making beef heart and liver pate.  I will be reviewing other recipes and most likely combining a few of them to make mine.

My Ingredients:

1 beef heart
1 beef liver
1 pound ground pork
5 strips of bacon juice (grease but juice sounds better:-)
1/4 cup of brandy
1 tablespoon of sherry wine
1/2 lemon juiced
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
2 medium Vidalia onions sliced into rings
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
3 tablespoon unsalted butter

Process:

Place cut up heart in pan and cover with water; when cutting heart you want to remove any connective tissue, fat and valves; I made thick slices .  Add bay leaves and peppercorns and simmer for 2 hours or until tender.  Drain liquid and set a side.  Cook bacon and reserve fat to cook the onions.  Season pork with s&p, cook and drain; set aside.

Rinse livers gently under water then soak the livers in milk for 1-2 hours. I did not do the milk soak stage; I wanted to try it this way my first time.  Slice the onions into rings and cook in bacon juice; transfer onion and juice to food processor and return pan to heat with 3Tb butter.  Drain livers, pat dry and cook them 3-4 minutes, flip them and return onion to pan with minced garlic; add brandy.  Cook livers until their is no longer any pink and the liquor has cooked off; add parsley.

Transfer liver and onions to food processor and puree with heart and rest of ingredients including bacon if you didn't already eat it.  Remember to scrape down often when pureeing and use the reserved heart broth to thin it out if needed.

Finish product with pickled red onions and balsamic figs.  I ate this on french bread but a good ole Saltine was also very good:)  Next time I will definitely soak the livers in milk to see the difference.  Wife said is was too strong liver/iron flavor but several male friends of mine loved it and so did my dog!

Also,  I froze most of it into 2-3Tb logs for future servings.  It can be shaped into any form for presentation.  Good Luck!!