Chicken liver pâté with cranberry topping

Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Place the chicken livers in a bowl, pour over the milk and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Drain off milk, discard and pat livers dry with paper towel.

Heat the butter in a pan, add the livers and sauté until pink. Remove livers from pan, then add the garlic and onion, and sauté until soft. Add the stock, sherry and bay leaves, bring to a simmer and allow to cook until reduced by half. Return livers to the pan, cook for a further minute, season. Remove bay leaves; allow mixture to cool a little.

Pour mixture into a bowl and blitz with a hand-held blender until smooth. Whisk together butter, eggs and cream, add to the bowl and blitz until combined. Pass mixture through a sieve and stir through peppercorns.

Line a greased loaf tin with baking paper; pour mixture into the tin, smooth with the back of a knife. Place loaf tin into a bain-marie (a deep roasting pan filled ¾ with hot water), place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

For the topping:
Place the cranberries, sugar, star anise and water in a pot, allow sugar to melt, remove and allow to cool.

To serve:
Unmould pâté onto a platter, spoon over topping and serve with toasted raisin bread.