Recipe: Make Mike McEnearney’s Quick Chicken Liver Pâté

In 2025, Mike McEnearney made his Melbourne debut with From Here by Mike, the all-day eatery inside 1 Hotel Melbourne, a luxury hotel built around nature-led design, sustainability, wellness and great food. Dine at the restaurant and stay a while to enjoy the Bamford Wellness Spa, lavish suites and views over the glittering Yarra River.

As at all McEnearney’s venues, From Here by Mike loudly champions local produce. And good taste prevails across cities: diners can’t get enough of the signature chicken liver pâté.

“Pâté always has a really welcome place in any restaurant,” McEnearney says of the spread that’s taken myriad forms at his venues. “It’s a lovely thing to have for a snack.”

From Here by Mike uses cockerel liver in its rendition and makes use of the whole animal, turning the neck into sausage and roasting the bird. “We try to let our ingredients inform us. It’s a complete circle,” says the chef. Cockerel liver, he says, has a richer, more buttery flavour and texture, and while some use port and other fortified wines in their pâté, he prefers sherry to “help cut the richness”.

McEnearney developed the recipe through trial and error, though it’s always been in his vocabulary; he recalls his mother had a cookbook of British home cook Elizabeth David in his childhood kitchen. He urges those hesitant about cooking with offal to reframe it as a nutrient-dense, healthy food source. “Everyone should be eating livers,” he says. “Our grandparents used every part [of an animal]. There was no waste.”

From Here by Mike serves its pâté in a bite-sized choux puff with riesling jelly piped in, a sprinkle of four-spice salt and a glass of champagne on the side. But if you’re not at that level, it’s still exceptional slathered on a slice of warm bread.

McEnearney’s tip? If you must cook with one spice, go with nutmeg – and “always use whole nutmeg and a grater” for a fresh kick.

Quick chicken liver pâté by Mike McEnearney

Serves 4

Preparation time: 1 hour (soaking), plus 1 hour setting time

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

Four-spice mix

10 white peppercorns

10 cloves

1 cinnamon quill

¼ tsp nutmeg, freshly ground

2 tbsp sea salt flakes

Pâté

15ml olive oil

375g chicken livers, soaked in milk for 1 hour minimum

2 shallots or ¼ small red onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

100ml sherry

1 pinch sea salt

½ tsp four-spice mix

35ml double cream

75g butter, melted (save 30ml to seal the top of the pâté)

Method

For the four-spice mix

Lightly toast the peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon under a hot grill – or in a heavy-based saucepan – over a medium heat until fragrant.

Allow to cool, then grind to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle or an electric spice grinder.

Add the nutmeg and salt flakes, and crush lightly to combine.

Store in an airtight container and it will keep for at least six months in the pantry.

If you don’t have time to make this mix, use a little grated nutmeg.

For the pâté

Pat the livers dry with a paper towel and trim off any sinew.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan and saute [PDL5] the livers over a high heat until well coloured and still soft to the touch. Place them in a bowl, leaving the oil in the pan.

In the same saucepan with the oil, on low-to-medium heat, sweat the diced shallots and garlic with a pinch of salt. Add the sherry to the pan with the shallots and garlic and deglaze, reducing the liquid by half.

Place the cooked chicken livers and the reduced deglaze from the pan into a food processor, adding the melted butter and cream and blend until very smooth. Season with salt and the four-spice mix.

Pour into a serving bowl, smooth the top of the mixture and set in the fridge for at least an hour.

Pour a little melted butter over the pâté to seal. Place back in the fridge to fully set for a further hour.

Delicious served with fresh baguette and four-spice salt on the side.

This article was produced by Broadsheet in partnership with 1 Hotel Melbourne.