Liver with onions

"Liver is definitely underrated. It's cheap, easy and quick to cook and delicious. With onions and polenta, it's a triumph!" 

 

Ingredients

• 300g of liver (Calves liver if you don't mind paying about £5/6, otherwise see what the butcher has got!)
• 2 medium size onions
• half vegetable stock cube
• 1/2 glass of white wine
• 20g butter
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil for cooking
• salt/pepper
• 5g of parsley - finely chopped (optional)

Tools

• 26/28cm saucepan with lid
• wooden spoon
• good kitchen knife and chopping board

Preparation

• Peel the onions, cut them in half and chop them in slices (half rings)
• Put the butter and oil in the pan
• Wash the liver, take off the white skin if and where possible and cut it in slices 1cm wide and 2/4cm long

Cooking

• Put the pan on medium/high heat and melt the butter
• Add the onions and cover with the lid
• Once the onions are sizzling in the buttery oil, add the half stock cube and the white wine, mix well and cover again
• After a minute or so, reduce the heat to the minimum and let it cook for at least 20 minutes, making sure it doesn't dry up (you can add some water if it does)
• When the onions are well cooked and easy to break with the wooden spoon, add the liver
• Turn on high heat, add salt and pepper to taste and mix well stirring regularly 
• Add the chopped parsley (if you have it)
• Turn off the heat after 4/5 minutes max (when the liver is gray outside but still pinkish inside and easy to break with the spoon)

Tips

Liver cooks fast and it gets stiff when overcooked. 4/5 minutes are more than enough to get it ready, so make sure the onions are well cooked when you add the liver. Overcooking will ruin the taste and softness of the meat. Polenta takes 5 minutes to make and goes very well with liver and onions, but you can always have a salad, boiled potatoes or pan cooked fennel as a side.