Pate: Easy as Meatloaf

I'm busy in the kitchen getting ready for our annual holiday party.  Today I made hubby's favorite, pate.  If you've never made a pate, let me tell you it is as easy as meatloaf!  

Pate can be made up to a week in advance and will serve a crowd. 

 It is a rather decadent food, involving a lot of fat...tasty fat...pork/bacon fat.  If you can't get over that, you can stop reading right now.  A loaf pan is lined in plastic wrap and then with bacon.  This is the traditional way to make a pate.  

The pate ingredients are combined and then transfered and pressed evenly into the pan.  This recipe is pork, prune and green peppercorn.  The prunes are soaked in brandy for a very rich flavor.  The bacon is folded over the top of the pan as is the plastic wrap.

The loaf pan is tightly covered with foil and placed in a roasting pan with boiling water added to the roaster as a water bath.  The roasting pan is covered with foil and placed in a 350 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until a thermometer registers 150 when inserted into the center of the pate.  Add weight, such as heavy cans to the top of the loaf pan to help compress the pate.  Chill overnight before removing from the loaf pan.  Lift out the pate with the plastic wrap.  You can view this recipe from Bon Appetit by clicking here.

PHOTOGRAPH BY Lendon Flanagan (no relation)  From Bon Appetit

The traditional way to serve pate is with slices of bread, grainy mustard, chutneys and cornicons.  Olives on the side are lovely too as well as a kir royale or hearty red wine.  Oh, I'm getting hungry.