Chicken Livers with Caramelized Onions in a Sage Cream Sauce - 9/11/11

I always think of chicken livers as being a very Jewish food, but I guess that's not entirely true.  They form the basis of that most quintessential Jewish dish, gehakteh leber, chopped liver.  I grew up on the stuff, although for many years, my grandmother used beef or calves liver and no hardboiled eggs.  Very good, no matter whose liver was being used.  I also loved the thick, sauteed calves liver served at Senior's Restaurant in Cedarhurst, smothered in fried onions.  And as a young married woman, looking for dishes to serve my equally young husband, I relied frequently on chicken livers for a filling, quick, and cheap meal.  Served with my mother in law's recipe for kale kraut ... oh my, that was so good.  Needless to say, I love liver, which is a good thing, given the state of the economy and my hemoglobin count.

My son Cory eats almost everything, including eel, caviar, gator and venison.  He doesn't like pineapple, and he refuses to eat chicken liver ever since a fifth grade biology class taught him exactly what the liver's purpose really was.  I am hoping that this variation will change his mind. 

1 lb organic chicken livers, rinsed, drained, patted dry, trimmed, and cut into quarters with kitchen scissors.
1 very large or 2 medium onions, sliced
4 slices bacon, halved crosswise
2 T garlic oil, plus more as needed
AP flour seasoned with my seasoning blend and some half sweet Hungarian paprika (or use sweet paprika and a touch of cayenne)
Kosher salt, black pepper, and a big pinch of brown sugar

For the sauce:
2 T garlic oil
2 T of the reserved seasoned flour
1-2 cups whole milk
Whole dried sage leaves, crumbled
2-3 T sherry

Start the bacon cooking over medium heat until bacon fat is about half rendered. Add the garlic oil and cook until bacon is crisp and fat completely rendered. Remove bacon to drain on a paper towel. Add the onions to the pan and season with salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Let onions caramelize and then use a slotted spoon to remove to a baking dish.

Dredge the liver pieces lightly in the seasoned flour and add to the pan in a single layer. (Do not discard the leftover flour, you will be using it for the sauce.) Sauté until browned and a little crispy on both sides and the livers are cooked through. Remove the livers to the dish with the onions, using a slotted spoon.  Add the last 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan, and then add 2 tablespoons of the reserved flour.  Stir and cook to make a roux, scraping up any tasty bits on the bottom of the pan.  Add one cup of milk, and stir while heating until a cream sauce forms.  Taste and season with my seasoning blend, some more paprika, and a good amount of the sage.  Add more milk if the sauce is too thick.

Now return the livers and onions to the pan and heat in the sauce.  Lower the heat and stir in the sherry.  Taste and re-season again, if needed.  Transfer the finished dish to a serving dish or casserole.  Crumble the reserved bacon and sprinkle over the top.

Sweet and Sassy Platanos Maduros - 9/11/11

6 very ripe plantains, peeled and sliced on the bias
My seasoning blend (see below)
Paula Deen's Southern Spice Rub (contains salt, chili powder, ground cumin, black pepper, ground coriander, ground cinnamon, crushed red chili pepper)
Sugar
1 stick butter
Blackberry honey

Toss the plantains with the seasonings and some sugar, and let sit a few minutes while you melt the butter over medium low heat. Carefully add the plantains to the pan and cook until they are browned on all sides. Drizzle with honey and cook a few more minutes until the plantains have a glazed light brown finish.  Taste and season with kosher salt, Southern Spice Rub and more honey, if you like them sweeter.  Serve with lime or lemon wedges for diners to squeeze over the plantains, if desired.

My seasoning blend:
4 T kosher salt
1 T coarse black pepper
1 T granulated garlic
1 T onion powder
1/2 T white pepper (I like pepper, okay?)

Mix this together and keep in a small covered container.  Similar to Paula Deen's House Seasoning, only a bit more complex.  Very good on steak, chicken, and in scrambled eggs.

2 T. ground cumin 2 T. chili powder 1 T. ground coriander 1 T. kosher salt 2 t. ground pepper 1/2 t. ground cinnamon 1/2 t. red pepper flakes

Sausage and Pepper Cacciatore - 9/11/11

Eat this, it will make you feel better!



Sausage and Pepper Cacciatore

I recommend using a large electric frying pan for this.  I set it on 250 degrees, which was perfect.  Also, the lid has a vent that I opened, which allowed some but not all of the steam to escape.  Also perfect.

2 T. olive oil
8-10 Italian sausages (I used 5 "hot" Italian pork sausages and 4 chicken, spinach and feta sausages)
5 bell peppers, a mixture of red and green, sliced
1 very large or 2 medium onions, sliced
10 cloves garlic, rough chop
Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, sugar

Heat oil then add sausage. Cook covered on low, turning once. Add peppers, onions, garlic and seasoning. Cover and continue cooking. After a few minutes, move the sausages on top of the vegetables so the vegetables can make contact with the bottom of the pan. After 7 to 10 minutes or when vegetables are soft and onions beginning to brown, remove the cover and continue to cook. Stir occasionally to ensure that the sausages and vegetables have the opportunity to brown.

1-14.5 oz. can diced fire roasted tomatoes with garlic, well drained
20 large pitted black olives, drained, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup white wine

When the sausages and vegetables are done to your liking and any liquid in the pan has evaporated, add the wine, stir to deglaze the pan, then add the tomatoes and olives. Cover the pan and cook on low just a few minutes until the flavors have a chance to marry.

This particular version of this dish is not about the tomato, but all about the sausage and peppers.  If you would like to serve this with pasta, it should have a sauce of it's own.  Or you can serve it will rice or mashed potatoes.  Heck, is there anything that doesn't go with mashed potatoes?