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.