CHARCUTERIE FOR DINNER

The idea of snacking, nibbling and crunching my way through a board of my favourite things actually sounds like a dinner that’s better than dinner.

Sometimes you don’t want a proper dinner. You just want to snack through a few things that are substantial and delicious enough to warrant a glass or two of wine.

Look, up in the sky! It’s a charcuterie board, coming to save your arse.

A grazing board of pates, terrines, cured meats and all their friends makes a beautiful, casual and very chic way to dine that instantly makes you feel as if you are on holidays.

It’s perfect for entertaining, of course, but why save it for other people when you can have it all to yourself?

You have the advantage of not having to double-guess what they like (because you know what you like already), and can tailor-make a board exactly to your whims and wishes.

For me, that means a great slab of beautifully made terrine, a soft and creamy pate, some cured meats, pickles, breads and crackers and maybe a cheese.

And also - why ever not?  If you can make a grazing board out of butter and turn it into an internet craze, then you can certainly make one out of elevated pork fat.

# Use a wooden board, a tray, half a door, or the top of a coffee table.

# Avoid wet things that leak, seep and potentially spill.

# Go for textural contrast – soft, hard, crisp, crunchy. Pull out that dip in the fridge. Pop open a packet of potato crisps. Small bowl of olives. Crisp crudites.

# Fruit goes well with charcuterie – figs, dates, pears, nashi, grapes, melons. A little pot of marmalade would be cool as a relish.

# Pivot into seafood with potted prawns, smoked or cured salmon, smoked eel, an open tin of anchovies.

# Breads, crispbreads, blinis, hot toast. Consider pan con tomate, toast rubbed with garlic and fresh tomato and grilled.

#Growing any herbs? Bung them on for freshness. Make a great big leafy green salad, but keep it on the side.

# Don’t fuss. There is no need to make roses out of your salami. Although if you would like to, there’s a fun video how-to here.

# Charcuterie is one of those deeply noble crafts whose practitioners can make the sort of stuff you and I dream of achieving. Permission, therefore, to buy your major pieces of charcuterie.

BUT I do love a home-made chicken liver pate; richly buttery, touch of booze, and with a mirror finish of jelly across the top that gives every bite a fringe of excitement.

CHICKEN LIVER PATE WITH PX JELLY

PX is Pedro Ximinez, a raisiny sweet sherry from Spain that I call my ‘cooking sherry’. You can use port or madeira or any sweet boozy thing you like.

• 125 g butter, chopped and softened

• 3 shallots or 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 500 g chicken livers from good chickens

• 1 garlic clove, grated

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 1 tbsp Pedro Ximinez, brandy, port, madeira etc

• grated nutmeg

• 1 tsp sea salt flakes

• 2 tbsp whipping or pure cream

Melt 2 tbsp of the butter in a fry pan, and slowly cook the shallots or onions until soft and not coloured, about 10 mins.

Rinse the chicken livers, pat dry, and trim off any stringy bits.

Add the livers and garlic to the pan and cook for 3 minutes over high heat, until browned outside but still pink and soft inside.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then transfer to a food processor.

Add the mustard, booze, nutmeg and sea salt, and blend for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth.

Add the remaining softened butter in batches, pulsing after each addition, then add cream and blend again for 1 minute until smooth.

Spoon into a bowl, leaving 1 cm free at the top for the jelly, and level the top.

Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate.

TO MAKE THE JELLY

• 1.5 leaves gelatine

• 125 ml Pedro Ximinez, port or madeira

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 4 minutes until soft and floppy.

Warm the booze in a small pan and remove from heat.

Squeeze excess water from the gelatine leaves, and stir the gelatine into the warm wine until dissolved.

Pour into a bowl set in a larger bowl of iced water to help it cool quickly. When cold, gently spoon or pour over the pate, and refrigerate until set, about an hour.

# If you want to use something strong like brandy or cognac in the pate, add it to the pan as soon as you remove the livers from the heat, to deglaze and to temper the alcohol. Otherwise, just add the booze to the food processor.

# If you want your pate super-fine and creamy, then push the puree through a sieve/strainer. It’s a bit of a pain, but the rewards are there.

# Serving suggestions:  With potato crisps and a Negroni. On a charcuterie board, naturally. On toast with a fried egg and capers. Smooshed over grilled rib eye in a spontaneous version of tournedos Rossini. For brunch, with toasted bagels and bowls of chopped hard-boiled egg yolk and white and dill and pickles.

No need to make the jelly if you can’t wait to get stuck in.

Thanks for reading! Thanks also to @justine_snacks and @charcuterie_n_things for the fun links. And special thanks to my right-hand man, Terry Durack, who found some mighty terrines at Victor Churchill and Vic’s Meats and Feather & Bone, and some beautiful chicken livers at Harris Farm, thereby prompting the whole charcuterie-for-dinner thing.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s about time, folks.