Here you go, all my insatiable fans. This turned into a lovely ragu with some pappardelle in a red sauce.
My life is without purpose.
Showing posts with label chicken liver ragu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken liver ragu. Show all posts
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Winner, Winner, Chicken (Liver) Dinner!
I've been lacking confidence in everything about myself all week - especially my cooking ability. The title of this post is really stupid, too, I think.
In reality, everything I've made has been delicious: the oven-roasted salmon, the asparagus, the roast chicken, the potatoes and brussel sprouts.
But that didn't stop me from worrying yesterday about my first attempt at chicken liver ragu - so much that I cooked a bacon-wrapped pork roast as a backup!
The ragu over pappardelle was delicious, by the way, and very easy to do. I think cleaning the livers was the hardest part; it was not straightforward to me exactly what needed to be cut away.
Whatever I did worked, and that's all that matters in the end I suppose.
To make this, I took a pint-sized container of chicken livers and cleaned them. One of the livers had the gall bladder still attached, which had to be removed. I trimmed the shmutz and blood vessels and hard things off the liver lobes as best as I could. I was struck at the variation among the different livers in size, texture, color - everything.
Anyway, then I sauteed the livers in olive oil with some minced garlic and onion, salt and pepper until they were no longer raw-looking.
I added a splash of red vermouth and a splash of dry red wine and simmered for a couple of minutes. Then I cheated by dumping in a quart of my meat sauce I had thawed from my freezer stash. I suppose it's not really cheating; I'd made that meat gravy from scratch. It just seemed too easy. I then simmered the concoction for about a half hour. It smelled so rich and delicious and tasted even better!
I wanted to make this with dried porcini mushrooms and not have it so tomato saucy. But my man has both an issue with mushrooms and a strong affection for pasta with red sauce, so, you know, I have to please my audience! He's a customer who is worth keeping satisfied, for sure.
Don't be afraid of liver!
In reality, everything I've made has been delicious: the oven-roasted salmon, the asparagus, the roast chicken, the potatoes and brussel sprouts.
But that didn't stop me from worrying yesterday about my first attempt at chicken liver ragu - so much that I cooked a bacon-wrapped pork roast as a backup!
The ragu over pappardelle was delicious, by the way, and very easy to do. I think cleaning the livers was the hardest part; it was not straightforward to me exactly what needed to be cut away.
Whatever I did worked, and that's all that matters in the end I suppose.
To make this, I took a pint-sized container of chicken livers and cleaned them. One of the livers had the gall bladder still attached, which had to be removed. I trimmed the shmutz and blood vessels and hard things off the liver lobes as best as I could. I was struck at the variation among the different livers in size, texture, color - everything.
Anyway, then I sauteed the livers in olive oil with some minced garlic and onion, salt and pepper until they were no longer raw-looking.
I added a splash of red vermouth and a splash of dry red wine and simmered for a couple of minutes. Then I cheated by dumping in a quart of my meat sauce I had thawed from my freezer stash. I suppose it's not really cheating; I'd made that meat gravy from scratch. It just seemed too easy. I then simmered the concoction for about a half hour. It smelled so rich and delicious and tasted even better!
I wanted to make this with dried porcini mushrooms and not have it so tomato saucy. But my man has both an issue with mushrooms and a strong affection for pasta with red sauce, so, you know, I have to please my audience! He's a customer who is worth keeping satisfied, for sure.
Don't be afraid of liver!
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