This is the first post for a very long time, due to a complete lack of motivation from my side. The reason being the combination of the absence of a (digital) camera and the summer months, which kept me preparing fresh and easy things (salads, grilling on weekends, sandwiches) not very worthy of a blog post.
I now have a pretty sweet cam. Still not much motivation to bake cakes, but I have a renewed passion for meat after watching a rather sick show that was recommended to me by a friend.
Obviously, my cooking skills are not as advanced and the origin of the meat is much less ambiguous (although industrial animal farming isn’t all that pretty either).
Liver salad is a standard French fare (very common with kidneys as well), and I’ve got inspired by the nice supply at the supermarket (I went earlier than usual and I must say, the meat supplies disappear surprisingly fast on Saturdays) and thought I’d make it a “flambé” using some of the cheap bourbon that is hidden in my kitchen. Then, reading this, I’ve found that adding apples wasn’t a bad idea (since I had bought 2kg along with my groceries). I admit that this mix calls for shallots, but I didn’t get them in the first place, so I’m instead using spring onions (although I had red onions, which would have been a better call). And I skip the butter in this recipe as I’m looking for something a bit lighter.
Ingredients (serves 2 if it’s a main and 3 to 4 if it’s a starter)
- 3 small apples (I’m using Gala, which are more on the sweet side)
- 300g chicken liver
- 2 shallots or 1 red onion or 2 spring onions
- Some salad (I had Batavia, but any form of lettuce works, as well as mâche – I wouldn’t recommend rucola, but if you’re a die-hard rucola eater, go for it)
- 4 cl bourbon (any brown liquor works)
- A little bit of oil and vinegar (sunflower oil works well as it’s rather neutral, I’ve used an apple vinegar but any vaguely fruity vinegar is fine)
- Ground pepper and maybe parsley or broccoli sprouts (not that I had the last two)
Instructions
- Clean the liver, cut the threads off and cut in 3 to 4cm pieces
- Peel and slice the apples relatively thin (16 slices each)
- Slice the onion(s)/shallots
- Heat up a little bit of oil in a frying pan
- When hot, put the onion/shallot and let it sweat (if you’ve got spring onions, go to next step right away)
- Put the apples in and let it cook for a few minutes, steering regularly until the apples are softer
- Set aside, and on the empty pan, pour little more oil
- Once hot, put in the liver and let it darken on the outside while steering well
- When only a little pink can still be seen on the liver, put the apples back in, pour the alcohol and set on fire, using a match (don’t wait after pouring or the alcohol will evaporate)
- Remove from fire, let it cool down a little and grind pepper on top
- Place on top of the salad, sprinkle a few spoons vinegar and add the parsley/sprouts
