Chicken Liver with Onion

Preparing the liver

1. Fried chicken liver with onion can be made from fresh or frozen offal, which you can buy by weight or in packs of up to half a kilogram. We often buy fresh, cleaned chicken liver that has never been frozen, packed in plastic trays. It is a very good semi-finished product for many dishes, for example pasta with liver (see the recipe for chicken giblets with pasta) or even chicken liver pâté.

   

   For this dish you need several large onions and a few potatoes to make ordinary mashed potatoes for the side. I also recommend adding a little fresh hot pepper to the onion, purely to your own taste. It improves the flavor and adds a piquant note.

   

2. If the liver was frozen, thaw it in advance: move the package from the freezer to the fridge the day before cooking.

3. Be sure to rinse the liver and inspect it. You can often find remnants of bile. Bile is not acceptable, otherwise the liver will be bitter and the dish ruined.

4. If you like, cut each liver in two.

5. Put the rinsed pieces of liver in a colander to drain.

6. Transfer the pieces to a bowl, add a little salt and pepper, and 1-2 pinches of dried aromatic herbs typical of Mediterranean cuisines, such as oregano, savory, thyme, parsley and so on.

   

7. Pour 50 ml of dry red table wine over the liver with the spices.

   You can replace the wine with wine vinegar, but use half as much, 25 ml. The alcohol from the wine evaporates completely during frying.

   

8. Put the liver in the fridge for 30-40 mins. Liver is not dense, so there is no need to marinate it for long, and the dish will come out exceptionally tender and soft.

Onion with honey

1. While the chicken liver marinates, prepare the fried onion. As I said, you can use plenty of onion, fried onion is always delicious.

2. Peel the onions and cut them into strips.

3. Finely chop the hot pepper. To keep the dish from getting too hot, I advise carefully removing the seeds and white inner membranes of the pepper, as they contain the lion’s share of the capsaicin.

4. Melt half of the butter (1.5 tbsp) in a pan and fry the onion until soft, over low heat, without a lid.

5. Add a pinch of salt and the chopped hot pepper.

   

6. Fry the onion until golden, about 15 mins, stirring fairly often. Try not to let it start to burn, or the dish will have a distinct burnt taste.

7. Take the fried onion off the heat and wait 6-7 mins so that it stops cooking and cools down a little.

8. Add 1 tsp of natural honey (7 g).

   

9. Stir the onion with the honey, cover the pan with a lid and set it aside. Don’t heat the honey. Let the onion stand while the chicken liver is frying. It’s fine if the fried onion cools down.

   

Frying the liver

1. Take the liver with the marinade out of the fridge and drain it in a colander so that as much liquid as possible runs off. It also makes sense to pat the pieces a bit dry with a paper towel.

2. In a bowl with a rim, mix 2 tbsp of wheat flour (20 g), a pinch of fine salt and ground black pepper.

3. Dredge all the liver pieces in the mixture one by one. Put the floured liver on a dry plate.

   

4. In a second pan, melt the remaining butter (1.5 tbsp) and mix it with 2 tbsp of refined, odorless vegetable oil.

5. When the fat mixture is hot, reduce the heat to medium-high and immediately add all the pieces of liver to the hot fat.

6. Fry the liver for no more than 10 mins, turning often, until a golden crust forms on all sides. Chicken liver fries very quickly, and in that time the pieces will be sure to cook through: no blood when you cut one. Don’t cover the pan with a lid, or the crust will go soft and the dish will turn to mush.

   

7. Take the pan off the heat, add the fried onion with honey and stir gently with a fork, trying not to damage the pieces.

8. Let the dish stand for 4-5 mins so the liver soaks up the flavor of the onion sauce and becomes uniform. There is no need to heat the dish further. Fried chicken liver with onion is served warm, but not hot.

   

Side dish and serving

1. While the dish is cooking, make mashed potatoes as a side dish, as chicken liver with onion is tastiest with them.

2. Peel the potatoes and boil them until done in lightly salted water, about 20 mins, until a knife goes in easily.

3. Pour the water into a cup and mash the potatoes, adding the liquid from the cup in small portions. If you like, you can add butter and milk to the mash.

4. Put the mashed potatoes on a plate. If you like, sprinkle with a pinch of your favorite spices. Add a slice of lemon next to the potatoes.

5. Arrange the pieces of chicken liver and top with the fried onion with honey.

   

6. Serve the dish for lunch not too hot. Chicken liver with onion and mashed potatoes is tastiest when it doesn’t burn your tongue and the aroma can fully develop. If you like, drizzle the liver with a little lemon juice.