Today at about 11 in the morning, I phoned Rendinas Butchery to see if they had any calves’ liver in. The friendly butcher said that they did, and that I could come and pick some up when I wanted it. Easy!
So about an hour later, I walked up there, only to be told that all the calves’ liver had been sold!!! And even worse, it had all been minced up for some woman’s PET FOOD. What an outrage.
I came home, and then called Belmore Butchers (Score! Two of Melbourne’s best butchers less than 5 minutes from my house!) Belmore Butchers are equally good, if not better, than Rendinas, but I always choose Rendinas simply because it’s within walking distance. Anyway, Belmore Butchers had calves’ liver, so I got my bro to drive me there as soon as I hung up the phone. They hadn't sold their liver for pet food. Hrmph.
261. Liver with Sweet Onions (One & Two)
This dish involves cooking finely sliced onions over a low heat until very soft, then pouring pomegranate juice over and reducing it. Nigella stipulates fresh pomegranates which you squeeze yourself, but seeing as you don’t need the seeds for garnish, I just used a carton of pomegranate juice which I had bought at Prahran market last month.
Onions
Once the onions are all cooked and reduced and slightly coloured, you set them aside and quickly pan fry the slices of calves’ liver. When fried, it looks like that most delicious of dishes – Japanese-style salt grilled oxtongue, which the awesome Aki-san makes at Asukatei restaurant, but tastes quite different.
Liver – Mmm… iron-filled.
Then you deglaze the pan with more pomegranate juice before pouring it over the waiting liver and onions. Nigella says she likes the dish with plain boiled potatoes. However, that reeked of effort, so I just microwaved some leftover plain rice.
liver & onions & rice
After the last liver dish I’d made, I wasn’t sure how much we’d enjoy this one (if at all). In fact, as we sat down to eat, Daniel said, “I’m not a big fan of liver”, but dutifully ate the whole thing.
Mum: Hmm… this tastes unusual… but it’s nice!
I had all these wry-mouthed apologies prepared, feeling guilty at making my family eat weird and wacky foods… when Daniel randomly piped up…
Dan: Tastes good to me!
Phew.
And indeed, it did taste good. It didn’t have that strong fluffy texture that the duck liver had, and it was well complemented by the sweet onions. I wouldn’t necessarily bother to cook it again, but it was acceptable for a one-time lunch.
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