Friday, December 13, 2013

Mme. Maman's Chopped Liver


Per Nana~
Hubby was in his glory this week. I made him chopped liver.  We both love chicken livers and I prepare them often to serve over rice. Being from the New York City area, chopped liver was always easy to find and it was an excellent appetizer to go along with a perfectly chilled martini or a glass of wine.
Dorie's version is so delicious and since we can not find it here in the suburbs of Philadelphia too easily, I am happy to have found a recipe to our taste. 

After reading all the comments in the P's and Q's section, I know many of the Doristas are skeptical about the recipe, but after the cleaning part is finished, it really is simple to make.
If you like liverwurst, you will love this recipe. Dorie said to brown the onions but I think I overdid that part a little too much, but it still tasted fantastic. No martini this time around, but I enjoyed a sandwich with mayo instead.
This is definitely a keeper for me. 
Per Tricia~
I should have had a martini in order to prepare this one. In full disclosure, I can not stand the smell of cooked liver. Nana teases me because if I stop over her house when she has made chicken livers I make it about 5 feet in the door before I declare that I can't stay. We have an understanding that if my husband would like some liver, he is to go next door. But this week, with hubby's help in cleaning the little livers, I dug deeper and prepared the dish. The funny thing is that I enjoy pate and have loved liverwurst since I was very young. In fact, my classic elementary school lunch was liverwurst on rye, with mustard. Go figure.

This recipe was  truly easy and I was completely delighted that the aroma did not get to me until the end. Unfortunately it also permeated the house so the "aromatherapy" lasted longer than I would have liked. But it was worth it because my husband really did enjoy this and said he will gladly make it himself in the future. He will have to .......
  
Happy French Friday~

14 comments:

  1. Tricia and Nana: your Chopped Liver looks wonderfully appetizing with the lovely crackers! It was certainly not easy to make chopped liver look attractive for the photos but you did and I am just glad that we are not the only ones who enjoyed this recipe (well, for us, liver is not that much of a big deal after all).
    Both your delightful Christmas cards have arrived and are now gracing our living room - thank you very much for your wonderful cards and your kind words! It was truly a joy to receive them!
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  2. Nana - I barely yanked my onions off in time. They took longer to brown in all that oil than I had expected and then, just when I was starting to get distracted by other things, they seemed to go from white to black in mere seconds. Luckily for me, only one corner of the pan was black and the rest were a nice dark and delicious brown.

    And Tricia, I love liver, but have to agree with you that I'm not a huge fan of preparing it. Whenever possible I try to get my husband to clean and prepare them.

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  3. I agree that once the cleaning part is over it's pretty easy. LIke Tricia, though I cannot stand the smell of cooked livers so this would have been easier had someone else made it and I just had to eat it.

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  4. The cleaning, I can handle. it's the smell and taste that I can't handle...

    Although, I will concede that with enough onions and if someone else made it - perhaps, I could have dealt with this one :-)

    Nana - my parents always used to make liver and onions when I was little. It was a favorite treat for them.

    Stay warm ladies - and get your shovels ready :-)

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  5. Nana! Love that bursting at the seams sandwich you got there!

    Tricia! I do believe this liver dish goes with everything that it can be paired with! I just enjoyed a wedge of the live with some crackers and wine while visiting everyone!

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  6. For us the onion smell lingered for a day. But naturally I was ok with that part of it. I enjoyed it and will certainly make it again. Especially now that I am going to forever associate it with a perfectly chilled martini. For some weird reason I missed that part this time around. I won't make that mistake again!

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  7. I really like how you served it in a glass jar. Looks very elegant. I love chopped liver myself. Glad that it was a success (unexpectedly for one). You know, I've never tried liverwurst. I wonder if I'd like it... I'll have to try. Have a great weekend, ladies!

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  8. Nana, I was surprised that I loved this too! Oh no Tricia - nothing worse than living with a smell you don't like.

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  9. Kudos to both of you for making this. I totally had to skip it!

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  10. Too funny about the aroma therapy! I thought this was quite good, but messing with the livers always makes me a bit squeamish :/

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  11. Wow, the martini sounds brilliant! I happen to love liver (and had plenty of liverwurst sandwiches too), so this was an easy one for me. It's been fun to see how everyone served theirs. Tricia, good work for pulling through this one. What dedication! Nana, I have to say, that sandwich looks mighty tasty (though still... that martini...) :)

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  12. We're definitely Sisters on this one, Tricia. Although I think if I'd have gone the martini route everytime chicken liver paté was put on the table, it might have gone down better (or, I would have become a closet alcoholic). I think you are the only Dorista, Nana, who posted a full-on photograph of raw chicken livers on this week's Post. What's with that? That's taking Mise en Place to the Nth degree, me thinks. Since I live in a small, 940 square feet condo now, the aromas permeated my entire dwelling (to the Nth degree). So, it's 7 degrees F above zero (which is balmy for us) and I have both the front door and the balcony door open. It was hilarious.

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  13. I have always enjoyed liver…maybe because my mother made it quite often! And Liverwurst was always a favorite, too! Needless to say I really enjoyed this one! Cutting up the chicken livers…not so much! Nana so glad this was a winner for you and your hubby! Tricia, It is good to have a sous chef! Next time make yourself a martini and let him do the work!

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  14. Thank you Nana for sharing your cooking tips and the results look yummy. Tricia, as always, cracks me up!!! I will have to make this as an appetizer soon! with a few martinis?

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