Some time ago we came back from monthly shopping at MAM (see separate post under „Uruguay“ in this blog). Again legs and shoulder from fresh lamb – US$7,–per kilo – wow this is so unbeatable. Then I saw fresh beef liver (higado de ganado) in the showcase. I couldn’t resist and bought a kilo. At home I made myself directly a portion with onions. The rest went into the freezer.
European ingredients, Spanish apricots, Turkish figs, Dutch onions, Italian polenta and fresh sage and liver from Germany. These pics are from a foodie-friend, Peter in Bochum, Germany.
Yesterday I decided to test how liver is out of the freezer (after 3 weeks). I’ll take the answer up front – it was like fresh and absolutely delicious. This time I made it a bit more fancy with Apples and Calvados. Also a chance to prepare an article for this blog.
How mouthwatering is this prepared by Peter ?
Many people don’t like any offal, I understand that. Here at home I am the only one who is doing it from time to time, just for myself, Anna doesn’t like it either.
Is liver healthy to eat ?
Liver contains many vitamins and minerals. Especially the content of fat-soluble and B-vitamins is very high in the liver. Of the minerals contained in particular iron is mentioned. Iron is responsible for the transport of oxygen into the blood. Vitamin A is of great importance for the growth, immune system, vision and renewal of skin and mucous membranes. Also is a liver full of iron and potassium.
In the past, cleansing organs such as liver and kidney were actually stressed. The animals were slaughtered when they were already old. Meanwhile, pigs are barely older than six months, cattle also only two years old. In addition, liver contains a lot of cholesterol. People who need to be aware of cholesterol intake due to lipid metabolism disorders should not eat liver too often.
And another reason to eat liver: It’s delicious.
If you buy liver, it should have no smell of any kind, it always looks a bit wet, but no blood is running out, as you have it with fresh beef. Liver is used of pork, chicken, beef or veal. Veal would be the best, because of a young animal, but veal is not available in Uruguay, don’t know why. Anyhow the beef-liver I buy here is excellent.
This is how your fresh bought liver should look like.
Conclusion.
As always, „if it looks good eat it“, it’s healthy and soooo delicious.
But as with everything else, considering health reasons – do it in moderation.
So, my friends, here are 3 recipes for you
1. The quickest one.
Very quick and easy to make, fresh fried liver with onions and fried sage on mash potatoe aside. A very delicious meal.
Ingredients.
600 g fresh liver
400 g red onions
30 g butter and a bit olive oil
salt and pepper
How to do.
Peel onion and cut into thin stripes.
Fry it in a large pan till they are soft and start coloring.
Set aside.
Fry onions first, they take longer.
Clean the liver – cut off tendons, silky skin and muscle parts – wash and dry.
Slice liver into small cubes or thin stripes.
Clean liver well, take off all silver-skin. If I clean it, I mostly loose a third of the whole meat, which I buy already additional, because I like it very clean. My doggies love the leftovers. Because of my cleaning I always end up with sliced mouth size pieces. Click on pics to supersize.
Cook liver on high heat till its colored (light browned), about one minute or two.
Mix in liver w ith onions, heat through and season with salt and pepper. Ready to serve.
Mix liver and onions. This time I liked it „wet“, so I left the onion juice for my baguette. If you don’t like so much juice just poor all through a sieve.
Tips.
Take a good glass of your favorite wine and a baguette and enjoy. The liver stays pretty dry, but the onions have enough juice to enjoy the meal.
My liver is mostly just browned, but if you like it outside cross and inside soft, just fry a bit longer on high heat, but be careful – liver can be overcooked, and therefore chewy inside, very quick.
2. The luxurious one.
Liver „Berlin style“ on mashed potatoes.
Liver with apple and onion in Calvados sauce.
If one speaks of liver „Berliner Art“, then it means a variant with apple and onion. Personally, I find it very tasty – assuming, of course, that the liver in the middle is still a bit pink and not fried dead. My favorite is clearly calf’s liver with apple and onion. Whether one refines the whole thing rather classically with a little bit of Calvados. Calvados is an apple brandy and goes best with this dish.
Ingredients.
700g calf’s liver (of course liver as you can get)
2 sour apples
2 medium size onions
some oil
Pepper and salt
Saute your onions.
For the sauce:
180 ml of Calvados (or dry sherry or brandy)
some fresh parsley or chives
2 tbsp butter
Pepper and salt
For the mashed potatoes:
400g potatoes
100g whipped cream
about 300 ml of milk
1 pinch of nutmeg
Fry onion and apple mix, then add liver.
How to do.
Peel and dice the potatoes. Put the potatoes in a pot of cold salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 12-15 minutes until soft.
During this time prepare the liver as shown before. Cut the liver into bite-sized pieces, peel the onion and cut into fine (half) rings and peel, quarter, core and dice the apple.
When the potatoes are almost done heat some oil in the pan and fry the liver all around. Remove the liver from the pan and set aside. Add the onions to the pan and fry briefly, reduce the heat, add the apple pieces and saute the onions until they are glassy.
Liver with onions and apple in Calvados.
Drain the potatoes, put them back in the pot and stomp with the potato masher as finely as possible. With a whisk first the whipped cream and then the milk under mashed potatoes, then stir until the puree has the desired consistency. Season with pepper, salt and nutmeg.
Return the liver back to the pan to apple and onion. Extinguish with Calvados – if you want to flambe, turn off the cooker hood NOW. With a stick lighter (sure is safe) immediately ignite and burn briefly. Simmer for 2-3 minutes on a low to medium level, then the liver should be tender pink inside. Add and stir in a small piece of cold butter to the sauce and remove the pan from the heat.
This is how it can look like at serving.
Finely chop the parsley or chives and add to the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange the liver with apple and onion together with the mashed potatoes and add some of the sauce.
This mouthwatering variation, with liver, apple, onion and bacon is from my French friend Mathis. It’s worth to try.
Tips.
A nice variation is to add finely chopped and fried bacon.
If you like give the liver a Spanish touch with a sip of sherry is of course up to you – either way, if you dare to fluff your liver it will turn out to be a very special highlight. I prefer to serve the liver with a creamy mashed potatoes – an absolute Berlin classic!
3. The fancy one.
This is a great party hit, served with
Chicken liver with fig-chutney on Ciabatta.
Even if you usually do not like any offal, I would still recommend trying this recipe. Chicken liver has a beautiful soft, melting texture and the taste is so mild, especially when you balance it with a sweet, spicy cream sauce. The liver should be seared very hot, so that the outside nicely caramelized, but inside still nice soft and pink remains. For that, I like to use a wok, as it is ideal for food that needs to be cooked quickly at high heat.
Figs out of our garden. Homemade fig chutney.
Ingredients.
800 g Fresh Organic Chicken Liver
400 g Smoked bacon, in cubes
100 ml Marsala wine (or any other sweet wine)
4-6 tsp of fig chutney
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
6 tbsp double cream
6 spring onions
8 sprigs of thyme
a small handful of parsley
Salt and pepper to season
butter and oil to fry
The Ciabatta bread we buy in Uruguay at the German bakery in Carrasco. Ciabatta is a somewhat irregular, slightly “dusty” loaf, so named, apparently because of its resemblance to a slipper or shoe. Ciabatta means slipper in Italian. Inside very airy and perfect to soak up a sauce.
How to do.
Clean chicken liver under running water and dab it dry. Then, if necessary remove veins and tendons. Season with pepper and set aside. Cut the spring onions into fine rings. Finely chop the parsley and pluck the thyme leaves from the twigs.
In a wok, heat the butter vigorously with a little olive oil. Roast the livers in portions in total for just 1½ minutes. Remove and set aside.
Cut the Ciabatta in half length by then width wise, so that it is in four pieces. All helped put on a baking tray and rub with the garlic cloves, drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. In preheated oven to about 190 degrees about 10 minutes. roast crispy.
Crispy Ciabatta roast in the oven. Sometimes, we do the same on the grill, bit of rosemary on the fire underneath gives an extra special taste to the bread.
In the gravy, fry the bacon a bit, add scallions and thyme, and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine, then the fig chutney and the balsamic vinegar. Now add the double cream and cook the parsley, all on a large fire for 2 minutes. At the end, add the livers and let it simmer briefly in the hot sauce.
Place chicken liver on top of the Ciabatta bread and serve. Lots of people which „did not like/eat liver“ enjoyed this one very much. Best is not telling them before they haven’t taste it.
Tips.
This recipe is a great Party starter. An often tested and successful „Tapas“ idea. Its unusual, very tasty and even loved by „normally – non meat eaters“.
Finally.
A restaurant serving I DON’T LIKE AT ALL ! The potatoes are o.k, but that’s it. The meat is undercooked (rose is o.k. but no bloody streams). It was not cleaned, one can see the blood venes, the muscle tubes, the tendons etc. I do not know what kind of skin parts are hanging around there. The onions are floppy and look shabby. All in a tomato sauce – how ugly and unappetizing it all looks !!
Some delicious servings.
As one can see, all livers are cleaned
and sliced, how it should be. Enjoy !
