I can’t think of anything more indulgent, more comforting, than freshly made, still warm, chopped liver on a slice of challah (or matzah), topped with some freshly made chrein.
Chopped liver
Course: appetizersCuisine: Ashkenazi, Jewish, IsraeliDifficulty: medium3
cups30
minutesIf you keep kosher, then you need to follow these instructions for kashering the liver. Otherwise, just follow the recipe below.
Chicken schmaltz is a rendered chicken fat. It is readily available in the freezer at some chain supermarkets (especially near large Jewish populations) and at kosher supermarkets. Use any mild flavor oil if you can’t find it.
INGREDIENTS
1 lb. chicken liver
6 tablespoons chicken schmaltz or mild oil, like avocado, *corn or canola (*corn oil is kosher for Passover only for legume eaters)
2 medium yellow onions, halved and sliced
2 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 eggs
DIRECTIONS
- Remove any connective tissue from liver. If you’re keeping kosher, prepare chicken liver according to instructions here.
- Melt schmaltz or oil in a large non stick pan over medium-high heat and sauté onions until golden-brown, about 20 minutes. You may need to reduce heat to medium after a few minutes, if the onion seems to get too brown too soon. Transfer onions to a bowl. Put pan back on medium-high heat.
- Now add chicken liver to the pan, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper and sauté until it’s cooked on the outside and pink inside (if you have a thermometer, the liver should reach 165 F degrees.) Remove from the heat and set aside.
- While the onion and liver are cooking, cook the eggs. Bring a saucepan half filled with salted water to boil. Carefully add eggs using a spoon and cook for 8 minutes exactly. Pour the water out and fill the saucepan with ice cold water to stop the cooking process of the eggs. When eggs have cooled down a little, peel them.
- Keep a couple of tablespoons onion for topping.
- Use a large knife to chop the liver, eggs and onions together then mix them with all the fat accomulated in the pan and in the bowl where you kept the onions. Add ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste. Serve warm with the reserved onions on top.
- Alternatively, put eggs and onions in a food processor and pulse to chop. Add chicken liver and pulse a few times more for a chunky consistency. Transfer to a bowl and add salt to taste. Serve warm with the reserved onions on top.