Not Just a Man's World

If you want something filling in the winter that costs almost nothing, then liver and onions is a meal that is well worth turning to. 

Many people have memories of being fed floury liver as children and as a result avoid this and other offal (heart, kidneys etc), but liver doesn’t need to be floury.  In my experience it starts to go floury if you cook it too slowly or for too long.  The key is to keep the pan as hot as possible, reduce your gravy swiftly, and keep the recipe as simple as possible.  I have Frank Fletcher (I presume) to thank for learning how to cook liver and onions.

Liver has some great nutritional benefits.  For starters, it’s an excellent source of vitamins A and the B vitamins as well as iron and copper.  For a full summary, the Weston A. Price Foundation have a superb article summarising the key health benefits and providing a chart comparing the vitamin content of the livers of different animals.  As you’ll see, lamb’s liver packs a punch over the others for most vitamins and minerals, though it is disappointingly low in potassium when compared to beef or veal liver.

Liver and onions

Ingredients: (serves 2 for a large dinner)
1 lb (450g) liver (so far I’ve only tried lamb’s liver)
2 onions, sliced
¾ – 1 pt beef stock (if you are cooking this for more than two, don’t increase the amount of liquid)

Directions:

1. Prepare the liver.  To do this you need to rinse the liver in cold water, pat it dry and then cut out any of the large or stringy tubes before cutting it into pieces.  I prefer to cut it into inch-wide strips or inch square pieces, depending on the size and form of the pieces that I started with.
2. Heat some oil in frying pan until it is smoking.
3. Put the liver in the pan for about 2 minutes until it has mostly stopped bleeding.  Keep it moving while it cooks to stop it from sticking.
4. Add the onions to the pan and continue to keep this moving in the pan with the liver for 1-2 minutes until the onions are starting to soften.  If you don’t keep it moving about then the onions are at risk of burning or cooking unevenly.
5. Finally add the stock to the pan, mix in thoroughly with the liver and onions, and then leave simmering over a high heat until the stock reduces to a thick gravy, which should take about 3-5 minutes.
6. Serve the liver and onions with the gravy from the pan poured over it.

If you like bacon in with your liver and onions then chop this into pieces and add to the pan with the liver.  Personally I’ve found that bacon doesn’t add much to it.  Alternatively (or as well), add some chopped mushrooms when you put the onions in the pan.  This can be a good way to bulk it out, though be warned that liver is incredibly filling.

It’s incredibly simple, very cheap (this quantity of liver costs me just over a pound from the supermarket) and immensely nutritious.  If I’m doing it for a lunch I will generally halve the amount of liver (it really is incredibly filling) but keep the same amount of onion per person.  This could be because I’m a bit of an onion fanatic though!

Related posts:

1. Paleo recipes: braised liver and bacon
2. Paleo recipes: easy braised liver
3. Paleo recipes: stuffed lamb hearts
4. Paleo recipes: onion tart