Chicken Liver with Wilted Radicchio, Caramelized Eschalots & Reduced Balsamic

I threaten them with no main course if they don’t at least try it. They usually reply, “but I don’t like liver!” I tell them “Try it and if you don’t like it, no problem.” Nine times out of ten, to their surprise they enjoy it and clean their plate.

You see, most people have a memory of liver served to us as children. Back then, it was usually overcooked and usually served with nothing more than some spuds and veggies.

Liver is like butter, it’s very complimentary but not a dish on its own. In this dish, you’ll see that I have: tender liver, slightly bitter radicchio, juicy eschalots and sweet balsamic, all these flavors work incredibly well together if not alone. For those of you that love liver, you’ll love this dish even more and for those of you that don’t, I hope that this dish teaches you to love it!

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lb chicken liver
• 16-20 French shallots
• 2 heads radicchio lettuce
• 16 sprigs watercress
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 cups milk
• plain flour
• butter
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• sea salt flakes
• pepper grinder

Instructions

• Cut the larger livers into uniform pieces and remove the sinew off any.
• Place in a bowl and cover with the milk, allow to stand in fridge at least 2 hours.
• In a small saucepan reduce the balsamic over a medium flame until reduced by two thirds, allow to cool (this can be done in a larger quantity as reduced balsamic is always nice to have on hand).
• To par blanch the eschalots, peel them and place them in a saucepan of cold salted water.
• Place the saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil, once boiling, allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and drain the onions.
• In a non stick fry pan sauté them in a touch of butter and a splash of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and add the brown sugar.
• Keep the pan moving until the eschalots are evenly browned and remove them.
• Wipe the pan clean.
• Remove the outer leaves of the radicchio until you get to the deep red centre of the heads.
• Break up the red hearts and tear them into uniform bite size pieces (remove the white spines by cutting a V in each leaf).
• Remove the livers from the milk and allow to drain.
• Pat the livers dry with paper towel and toss gently one at a time in seasoned flour.
• Return the pan to high heat and add a splash of olive oil and some butter.
• Sear the livers for 1 minute on the first side, turn and sear a further 40 seconds on the other side.
• Add the onions back in and toss until warm.
• Add the radicchio and toss together and immediately remove to a mixing bowl.
• Add the picked watercress, arrange evenly amongst 4 plates and drizzle with a touch of reduced balsamic.

Notes

Related: Riganato – Greek Sautéed Beef Liver Related: Foie Gras Terrine w/ Marinated Figs