A rich dish of fried veal liver with bacon, onions mushrooms, sherry and cream served on toast.
Serves 4 as an appetizer. Serve two slices of liver per person for a main course.
1 cup all purpose flour plus a pinch for the sauce
2cups whole milk for soaking
Sauce
3ozbaconpreferably pancetta
4ozwild mushroomssuch as chanterelles
½teaspoonchopped fresh thyme
¼cupdry sherry
½cupheavy cream
4ozyellow sweet onion this is one small onion
½cupchicken stock traditionally this would be demi glace
1tablespoonunsalted butteroptional
½teaspoonhoney or maple syrup
Serving
Sliced of toasted or grilled bread
Instructions
Caramelized Onions
Cut the top and bottom from the onion, cut in half, then cut into ¼ inch julienne.
Heat the onions and a tablespoon of the oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring often and occasionally with a wooden spoon and adding a splash of water if the pan gets threatens to get dark.
When the pan looks like it’s getting dry, add a splash of water and continue cooking, repeat the process until the onions are soft and deep brown.
Liver
Soak the liver slices in milk overnight.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large saute pan or skillet until nearly smoking. Season the liver slices with salt and pepper, dredge in flour on one side only, tapping off the excess flour.
Fry the liver slices flour-side down until golden brown on high heat.
Flip the pieces of liver over and cook for a second on the other side, then remove to a plate to rest. At this point the livers should be about medium rare. You will put the pieces of liver back into the pan to warm up at the end.
Pan Sauce
In the same pan, heat the bacon and the remaining tablespoon of oil and cook until the bacon releases its fat and becomes crisp. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until they release their water and start to brown.
Add the flour stir, and cook a minute more. Add the sherry to the hot pan, swirl it to ignite (carefully) blow the flame out, then add the onions, honey, thyme and chicken stock and bring to a simmer.
When the liquid is reduced by half (about 5 minutes) add the cream and simmer gently until lightly thickened. Double check the seasoning for salt and pepper, adjust until it tastes good to you, then stir in the butter until incorporated.
Turn the heat off the pan. Slip the liver back into the pan and baste with the juices to help warm them up for a minute or two.
Serving
Meanwhile, grill or toast a few slices of bread.
Put the slice of bread on a plate, top with a piece of liver, spoon the thick onion and mushroom sauce over the top and eat.
Notes
Balsamic Variation
This recipe is really good if you add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the cream. If you want to do that, you can skip the bacon to keep it on the lighter side.