Huh. These are funny looking livers
Apr. 28th, 2014 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plonqI pulled a package of chicken livers out of the freezer on the weekend. I bought them some time back and then forgot about them. I stumbled upon then when ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
atara sent me to the freezer in search of something else, and on seeing them I suddenly I had a craving for livers. That line sounded less creepy in my head...
My offer to make them foratara for breakfast on the weekend was met with something a little shy of enthusiasm, so I decided they would make a good lunch or two for me this week since I am working from home. I looked up a few recipes for livers this morning, and then around 9:00 I wandered out to the kitchen to do a bit of prep work on them (you need to trim away the fatty bits). I pulled them out of the fridge, and discovered that they were not livers at all; they were hearts. I had bought a bag of chicken hearts.
I stared at the package of muscle balls and realized that I was not the least bit prepared for dealing with them. Fortunately I have access to the internet, and if I have learned one thing over the years it is that if one enters almost any animal part into a search engine, one will find either a porn of it, or a recipe for cooking it. I was looking for the latter, and I struck it lucky on my first try.
Here is how I dealt with them. First, I washed them and then patted and squeezed them dry (it's a good thing I squeezed, because a couple of them were still filled with blood. By the time I was done, the paper towels I was using look like they had been used to clean up a murder scene.) I put the cleaned hearts into a small plastic bag with some olive oil, salt, pepper and minced garlic and then put them back in the fridge to marinade for a couple of hours.
A couple of hours later I went back out to the kitchen and diced a medium onion. I tossed it into a skillet with some olive oil and enough butter to add some flavour, a bit of salt, and a pinch of cayenne. When the onions were soft, I tossed in the chicken hearts and spread them around evenly pan. I cooked them until they were cooked through, turning them once, then I plucked them out and put them under the broiler in the toaster oven. When they were sizzley and brown on top, I turned them and left them until the other side was nicely browned as well.
In the meantime I used a slotted spoon to rescue my onions from their bath of oil and chicken fat in the skillet, and I piled them on a small plate. When the hearts were done I made a small well in the onions and mounded the little hearts in the middle. It was not the most appealing plating job I have ever seen, but they were good. No, scratch that, they were real good. I would make this recipe again in ... a heartbeat. They were also very rich. After the first couple of bites I realized I was looking at two meals here, so I finished half and put the rest in a container for another day. I guess I will know soon enough if they reheat well.
atara sent me to the freezer in search of something else, and on seeing them I suddenly I had a craving for livers. That line sounded less creepy in my head...My offer to make them for
atara for breakfast on the weekend was met with something a little shy of enthusiasm, so I decided they would make a good lunch or two for me this week since I am working from home. I looked up a few recipes for livers this morning, and then around 9:00 I wandered out to the kitchen to do a bit of prep work on them (you need to trim away the fatty bits). I pulled them out of the fridge, and discovered that they were not livers at all; they were hearts. I had bought a bag of chicken hearts.I stared at the package of muscle balls and realized that I was not the least bit prepared for dealing with them. Fortunately I have access to the internet, and if I have learned one thing over the years it is that if one enters almost any animal part into a search engine, one will find either a porn of it, or a recipe for cooking it. I was looking for the latter, and I struck it lucky on my first try.
Here is how I dealt with them. First, I washed them and then patted and squeezed them dry (it's a good thing I squeezed, because a couple of them were still filled with blood. By the time I was done, the paper towels I was using look like they had been used to clean up a murder scene.) I put the cleaned hearts into a small plastic bag with some olive oil, salt, pepper and minced garlic and then put them back in the fridge to marinade for a couple of hours.
A couple of hours later I went back out to the kitchen and diced a medium onion. I tossed it into a skillet with some olive oil and enough butter to add some flavour, a bit of salt, and a pinch of cayenne. When the onions were soft, I tossed in the chicken hearts and spread them around evenly pan. I cooked them until they were cooked through, turning them once, then I plucked them out and put them under the broiler in the toaster oven. When they were sizzley and brown on top, I turned them and left them until the other side was nicely browned as well.
In the meantime I used a slotted spoon to rescue my onions from their bath of oil and chicken fat in the skillet, and I piled them on a small plate. When the hearts were done I made a small well in the onions and mounded the little hearts in the middle. It was not the most appealing plating job I have ever seen, but they were good. No, scratch that, they were real good. I would make this recipe again in ... a heartbeat. They were also very rich. After the first couple of bites I realized I was looking at two meals here, so I finished half and put the rest in a container for another day. I guess I will know soon enough if they reheat well.
