Seasonal Recipe of the Week
This is a recipe for super yummy and great homemade bar food from Food52. I think liver is one of the most misunderstood foods out there. So why not butch up and try something new? It's got hot sauce, how could that be bad?
Ingredients
4 ounces chicken livers
1 cup buttermilk, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup Canola oil
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup Sriracha or other hot pepper sauce
for serving: celery and/or carrot sticks, blue cheese dressing or dip
Procedure
Rinse and clean chicken livers, cut into two lobes Pour 1/2 cup of the buttermilk into a bowl. Add the chicken livers to the buttermilk and let soak for 5-10 minutes. Place the flour in a shallow dish and add the salt, paprika, Old Bay, and cayenne, stirring with a fork until the spices are evenly distributed. Remove the livers from the buttermilk and dredge them in the flour. Discard the buttermilk, wipe out the bowl and add the remaining 1/2 cup of buttermilk. Dip the livers in the buttermilk and dredge them a second time in the seasoned flour.
Place the oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet and warm over medium heat until shimmering. Carefully add the livers a few at a time to the hot oil, cooking for a few minutes per side until they are golden brown and crispy. Remove the cooked livers to a paper towel-lined platter, and continue cooking in batches until all of the livers are fried. Note: you’ll want to use a splatter shield over your pan, as the livers will pop and spatter. Also, if you’re making a larger batch of these, you can hold the fried livers on a rack in a low oven to keep them warm until serving.
While the livers are frying, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in the hot sauce until well incorporated. Just before serving, gently toss the fried livers in the butter and hot sauce mixture. Place the sauced livers on a plate or platter, and serve with celery and/or carrot sticks and this delicious blue cheese dressing.
Ingredients for Blue Cheese Dressing
1 small clove of garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/4 cup crème fraiche
1 tablespoon buttermilk
a splash of sherry vinegar
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Procedure
Peel the garlic and sprinkle the salt over it. With the side of a knife, mash the salt and garlic to a paste and scrape into a small bowl. Add the mayonnaise, crème fraiche, buttermilk, and sherry vinegar to the bowl and whisk to combine.
Stir in the blue cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill for 20-30 minutes before serving.
