Food for thought: Bread spread

It's amazing just how many people completely refuse to eat liver in any shape or form, generally announcing that they 'can't stand the stuff' before even taking a tentative mouthful of whatever dish happens to be on offer. Liver, however, must be one of the most highly nutritious 'meats', though technically it is classified as offal (not 'awful' I hasten to add), in the market and being much lower priced than actual meat, is an economically sensible buy. Liver curry is reasonably quick to make so helps save gas/electricity too and, if it has thick gravy, goes quite a long way served over rice or, for an interesting change, over whichever kind of pasta you happen to have hanging around. Liver curry, again with plenty of gravy, also makes an excellent lasagna in place of the regular keema in tomato sauce and, it goes without saying, you can spice it up or spice it down to meet both the occasion and the palates of the hungry people queuing up to eat the delicacies coming out of your kitchen. Liver is full to bursting with health benefits: High in iron and many other essential minerals, high in Vitamin A, Vitamin B and others, it gives an astonishing boost to the immune system and improves general health. Liver also,  and, this is especially important for exam taking school, college and university students, almost instantaneously zaps brain power up to top notch and keeps it there far longer than things like coffee, caffeinated soft drinks and chocolate and yet, sadly, young people are amongst the worst offenders when faced with liver on the menu. It is an old wives' tale that the delicacy called 'pâté' can only be successfully made with either chicken or goose liver, mutton and beef liver being far 'too strong' as, in reality, excellent pâté can be conjured up using any kind of liver at all. It helps to remember that recipes in cookery books and in magazines, including this one of course, are only a basic guideline and cooks do not have to follow them to the letter. Recipes are for playing around with, adding a little of this and subtracting a little of that until the result is to personal taste and, with this in mind, all flavourings in the following recipe should be either increased or decreased, even replaced with something else if you like, until you have created a culinary miracle that even liver haters will drool for! Liver Pâté Ingredients: Half kilo liver (this can be beef, mutton, chicken or goose). 150 grams butter 1 large onion At least 6 cloves of garlic, more if you are a garlic freak 1 teaspoon strong mustard powder 1 teaspoon coriander powder 1 teaspoon red chilli powder Salt to taste Method: Chop the liver into small pieces, thinly slice the onion and crush the garlic. Melt the butter in a heavy based, deep frying pan then toss in the liver, onions, garlic, mustard powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and salt if used. Fry over a low heat, stirring regularly to prevent sticking and adding more butter if necessary, until everything is cooked. While still hot, give a good whiz in a food processor or blender until relatively smooth, whiz longer if a completely smooth pâté is preferred. Spoon into a serving dish, garnish with olives, parsley, lemons or whatever else takes your fancy, chill in the fridge and serve with salad, with hot garlic bread or on toast. Can be used as a snack or part of a main course. Freezes well.