Lower Your Food Bill and Increase Your Likes with French Chicken Livers
French Chicken Livers—Last week I was at the farmer’s market in our small town in Western Colorado and I chanced upon a pound of frozen, organic chicken livers, straight from a local farm. I purchased them and then this morning I decided I wouldn’t make the usual chicken liver pate, or a chicken liver omelette. I would try a new recipe based on what my mom used to make for us regularly, but even better: Chicken Liver Francaise.
For some background that you penny-pinching, organ-eaters can appreciate, my mother raised our family of eight on chicken organs, potatoes and a green veg. There was not a ton of variety in our dinners but she tried, and some of it was delicious. She served us gizzards and hearts in packet gravy over mashed potatoes. We ate beef tongue, and beef liver also with gravy and mashed potatoes. And when we had a whole chicken for dinner, my father often salted and fried up the one chicken liver from the bird before dinner and we would split it and enjoy its deliciousness, while standing at the side of the stove. He always remarked at the sweetness of its taste. It was one of his favorite treats.
The following recipe is taken from Julia Child’s video entitled Chicken Livers a la Francaise, from The French Chef, Season 1. It is good but if you’re not into liver, this might not be the recipe for you and below are some other ideas from FFTA for tonight’s repast: try these delicious dinner recipes
Read more: French Chicken Livers – Inexpensive, Inviting and Delicious, But Yes!Chicken Livers Francaise
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Organic chicken livers
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/2 cup Flour for dredging
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp oil
- 8 ounces mushrooms, quartered
- 1/2 cup boiled ham, cubed
- 2 tbsp shallots or scallions, chopped
- 1/4 cup Port, dry vermouth, or red wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 tbsp arrowroot, or cornstarch
- 1 tbsp wine or cold water
Instructions
- Soak chicken livers for 20 minutes in cold water with a tablespoon of salt. Rinse and set aside. Remove any white lines that you see in the livers and discard (or give to your dog or cat). Cut livers in half and again in half, so all are the same size.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee/clarified butter and 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a large pan. Using a paper towel, pat liver dry. Season the livers with salt and pepper and mix together. Just before cooking, dredge lightly with flour, shaking off the excess, using a sieve. Once the butter foaming subsides, add some of the liver to the pan; do not overcrowd the pan. Cook in batches.
- Cook until still lightly pink inside, as with calves liver, about 3 to 4 minutes. Shake pan as they cook. They are done when you press them with your finger and they are not soft anymore. Remove livers to plate.
- In a second frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. When the foaming subsides, add mushrooms to the pan. Brown them slightly. Watch and shake the livers simultaneously as you cook the mushrooms.
- Add diced ham to mushroom pan and add about 2 tablespoons chopped shallots.
- Make sauce in liver pan: Add shallots, wine/vermouth to pan, add stock and thicken with the a tablespoon of cornstarch diluted in 1 tablespoon of cold wine/vermouth. Let cook, bring to the simmer and add livers and mushroom mixture. It should thicken up a little more because of the flour in chic livers. That's done: you can make this ahead then reheat when ready to serve over mashed potatoes, with cooked, buttered peas on the side.
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