Chicken Liver Mousse
Ingredients:
6 oz chicken stock
1 lb chicken livers, seared
5 tbsp rendered chicken fat (also known as schmaltz) *
½ cup onions that have been caramelized
¼ cup gribenes *
2 hard boiled eggs
Method:
Combine 4 oz of chicken stock and the remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until completely smooth. If the mixture seems too thick, add additional chicken stock as necessary. Pass the mousse through a fine sieve pressing down with a spatula. Let the mousse cool in the fridge overnight.
Pastrami Onion Jam
Ingredients:
¼ lb pastrami, roughly chopped
1 large red onion, diced
2 tbsp honey
1 oz sherry vinegar
Method:
Place diced pastrami in the food processor and pulse until coarse. Preheat a small sauté pan on low heat. Place the ground pastrami and onion in the pan and cook on low heat stirring frequently until onions are completely translucent. Add the vinegar and honey, and cook until deeply caramelized and the liquid has evaporated.
Serve the mousse and pastrami onion jam with thick-cut, toasted rye bread that has been spread with schmaltz.
* Schmaltz is rendered chicken fat. It is sometimes available in the supermarket, but you can make your own by rendering chicken skins over low heat with a splash of water (and often chopped onions). Once the skins have been fully rendered, you are left with golden schmaltz and crispy, crackling chicken skins known as gribenes. You can just as easily substitute butter in place of schmaltz, and the gribenes are optional.