Liver and Onions

Some people hate liver. My wife does not care for organ meat. She would rather die than eat a filtering organ. Me, I like offal of all kinds: liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, heart, tongue, gizzards. Bring it on. It's a shame you can't hardly find it any more at the grocery. We do see kidneys once in a while. Liver--beef liver--seems to be the one consistent exception to the new rule. Occasionally calve's liver. But usually it's hidden in the freezer section.

This particular liver is special. It comes from our dairy, Smith Mountain Creamery, which sells a wide variety of meats. The beef is from their own dairy cows. Lamb and pork they obtain from other farmers in the area. Especially if you are trying to save a penny, it's hard to resist liver.

My favorite way to prepare liver is still the classic diner version. First caramelize a skillet-full of onions. Then drop a dollop of butter in the pan, raise the heat and cook the liver fairly quickly on each side. Unless it is a very thick slice, it will be done in just a couple of minutes. I prefer mine with just a hint of pinkness in the center, not always an easy thing to achieve. Serve immediately.

Breakfast

Fried eggs with last night's liver and onion scapes.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Shopping: none

Our onions lately have been sending up flower stalks, or scapes. You might read more about garlic scapes. But onion scapes are equally delicious, chopped fine as a garnish or as an ingredient. Pesto from scapes seems to be all the rage these days. We are happy to cut them off the onion plant and eat them, which forces the onion to focus more on what it does best--making onions.

In the winter we get eggs in our CSA box from our farmer friend Brett. Brett's chickens roam around a movable enclosure, pecking at weeds and bugs. In the warmer season we sometimes visit Brett's stand at a Saturday farmer's market a couple of miles away, specifically for the eggs.

You can identify eggs from free-roaming chickens immediately by the deep orange color of the yolk. That's the beta carotene from eating all those weeds. Industrial eggs come from chickens that are crammed together indoors. They feed on corn and soy. Instead of protein from bugs, they get theirs in a feed mix from all kinds of industrial sources: feathers and other chicken parts, beef fat, bone meal. Their yolks are pale yellow, absent the beta carotene.

Needless to say, eggs from pasture-raised hens are more nutritious. They have more in vitamins A and E, more folic acid, lutein and beta carotene. They are also dramatically richer in omega-3 fats.

Freshness and better nutrition are among the reasons we will sometimes make a special trip--and pay more--to get our eggs from a local farm. We also like the idea of supporting a local farmer.

Liver and egg yolks have the highest concentration of biotin--a B vitamin--of any foods. Biotin is vital for the digestion of fat and protein and also promotes healthy hair, skin and nerves. So next time you're thinking about liver, include an egg. Or, make chopped liver the old fashioned way--with chopped eggs.

Liver with Fava Beans and a Little Chianti

With all the fava beans we've harvested recently, it was impossible not to pay a small homage to Hannibal Lecter. So I made a quick trip to the local Whole Foods and discovered calves liver is quite the bargain: just a bit over $3 for four man-sized portions.



Hey, we may be on to something here. Of course this means I'll be eating liver for the rest of the week. The wife will not go near filtering organs. Fortunately, our friend Tomeika is a liver fan (who knew?) so I was able to share this meal with at least one other human.



Slice a large Vidalia onion into thick rings and saute in extra-virgin olive oil over moderately low heat until deep golden. Remove the onions and raise the heat to medium. Season the liver with salt and pepper and saute in a mix of extra-virgin olive oil and butter until done to your taste (some people like it a little bloody), browning the meat on both sides. Remove the liver and deglaze the pan with about 1/3 cup red wine.



The favas had already been blanched and shelled. I finished cooking them until tender in a skillet with butter. Season with a bit of salt. Serve on a hot plate, pouring some of the glaze over the liver. Pour a glass of Chianti and give a toast to Anthony Hopkins.

How Do You Like Your Liver?

My father-in-law has returned home from major surgery so my wife and I volunteered to cook lunch for her parents.

And what do you suppose would be at the top of their list of favorite meals?

Liver.

My wife will have none of it. She won't eat filtering organs. If the organ has been filtering, she figures there's something in it she doesn't want to put in her mouth.

("It's really the texture I can't stand," my wife tells me now. "It's gritty and weird.")

But when you think about it, liver can be pretty sublime. Where would we be, for instance, without pate de foie gras? Or what kind of world would this be without an occasional schmear of chopped liver on toast? Even a simple skillet of chicken livers with scrambled eggs lifts breakfast to another level.

At least it does for me.

So I was elated when the in-laws requested liver for the welcome-home meal. Naturally, our local Whole Foods was out of calves liver. They had some nice looking kidneys. But once again I found myself at the Customer Service desk asking the clerk to make some phone calls.

Soon enough I had about 1 1/2 pounds of fresh calves liver and three Vidalia onions. I figured this would be enough for four persons, or three as the case might be. My wife sliced the onions thinly and browned them to a silky confection before we left the house. This left only the cooking of the livers, which I proceeded to do in a heavy skillet after we arrived at the family home in Annapolis.

First, put the browned onions in a 200-degree oven to come up to temperature.

As for the liver, it should be sliced about 1/2-inch thick, or a maybe a little thicker. Season it agressively with salt and pepper on both sides. Pour a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil into the skillet over moderately high heat. The oil should be starting to smoke.

Cook the liver on one side until it is nicely browned. Then flip and repeat on the other side. The total cooking time will be around five minutes (or maybe three minutes, I wasn't really timing it. See Stephen's comment below).

Test for doneness by poking the meat with your finger: It should still have some give to it for meat that is pinkish in the middle. Or cut a piece open and take a look. Personally, I like my liver more toward the medium-to-medium-rare side. But some people can't stand liver that isn't cooked all the way through. It's up to you.

At this point, remove the skillet from the heat and pour a tablespoon or two of good brandy into the pan with the meat. Light the brandy, tipping the pan if necessary to get the liquid to collect at one end. Shake the pan until the flames subside.

Remove the meat from the pan onto a plate to rest. Meanwhile, drop two tablespoons of butter into the skillet and deglaze on the stove, scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan.

Distribute the warmed onions onto dinner plates. Place the liver over the onions and drizzle the pan juices over everything. You could garnish the meat with some chopped parsley if you like. Alternately, smother the liver with the onions.

We served this with poached asparagus (thick spears--the father-in-law grew up with asparagus and insists on thick spears) and baby potatoes. I don't remember being hungry the rest of the afternoon.