Marcella, you must forgive me this week. There is only one food that I know I really dislike, and that is liver. Beef liver, chicken liver, it doesn’t matter. Well, except I do love foie gras. Give me tripe (I’ve only had it once, in Florence, Italy, and it was delicious), or oxtail, or beef tongue, but liver I just do not like.
But, I knew if there was ever a time I would like it, it would be with one of Marcella’s recipes. Okay, the recipe didn’t change my mind about liking liver, but if you do like chicken livers, you will love this recipe. It’s very easy and quick to make.
You saute finely diced onion in a little butter until the onions are golden. You then add sage leaves and the chicken livers, and cook, turning often, until the livers are no longer that raw, red color. Then you remove them from the pan, add a little white wine, simmer for a minute then add the liver back to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, turn a couple of times, and that’s eat-they’re ready to eat.
I discovered that if you like liver, chicken livers are very inexpensive. 3/4 of a pound cost me less than $1.50. So I didn’t feel so bad, after my 3 small bites, to put them down the garbage disposal. Well, I did save a little for my dog, who thought they were the best thing she’s ever tasted.
Next week, when you read my post, you’ll no longer be reading about the interesting variety meats. We will be moving on to vegetables. I can’t believe all of the recipes we’ve made so far. We started with our first post on March 28th. We’ve worked our way through appetizers, soups, pasta, risotto, gnocchi, crespelle, polenta, frittate, fish and shellfish, chicken, squab, duck, and rabbit, veal, beef, lamb, pork and as you know, we’re currently on variety meats. Amazing. Next up is vegetables, then we’ll have salads, desserts, and focaccia, pizza, bread and other special doughs. The last recipe will be posted on June 5th. I can’t wait to read about more of the wonderful recipes we’re all cooking. Thank you again, Marcella, for the work you put into Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking and the comments/suggestions you’ve been providing us with over the past 9 months.