Growing up with an offal-loving Italian father who thought nothing of bringing home pigs trotters (apparently they're a delicacy?), tripe, and even brains on one memorable occasion, my sister and I had no idea for a very long time about the squeamishness that many feel around offal.
But really truly don't be put off by the gristly liver you once had in the school canteen. Cooked properly liver can be beautifully soft and should almost melt in the mouth. Not only that, but offal is often a lot cheaper than more popular cuts of meat, and if you're a carnivore I think it's a fantastic way of making sure that we're eating 'nose to tail' without any waste.
And all that's before we've even got to liver's nutritional profile. None of us should have much time for so-called 'superfoods' - they're basically just foods with good PR - but if they did exist then liver would be top of the league. This dish is a Venetian classic. Serve with polenta to make like the Italians.
What's the A to V?
Where to start? Liver is incredibly nutrient dense, rich in vitamins A, B2, B5, B6, B's 7 and 9 and of course B12. In terms of the minerals, liver is also a great source of iron, zinc, copper, phosphorus and molybdenum. The onions in this recipe add in some sulphur, but the liver is the star of the show here.
Ingredients (serves 4):
4 pieces of liver (roughly 1kg), cleaned, trimmed, and sliced into small strips
2 large white onions, finely sliced
3 sprigs of sage
Olive oil
50 ml white wine or sherry
30g butter
Salt and pepper to season
Method
First, sweat your onions in a pan with around 2 tbsps of olive oil and a pinch of salt for roughly 30 minutes. The onions should be extremely soft but not overly brown at the end of this. I recommend cooking them on a very low heat in a covered pan to get the squidgy effect you're after here.
Heat a further tbsp of olive oil in a pan, and add your sage leaves. Once these have started to crackle, add your liver and half of your butter to the pan.
The liver won't take very long at all to cook. You want it brown on both sides, which shouldn't take longer than about 1 or 2 minutes.
Add your onions, sherry or wine, and the remaining butter to the pan and simmer for no more than a minute. Season generously with black pepper, and serve immediately.