yeah claire, your chicken livers really made my taste buds perk up on a day that nothing else was stirring my appetite at all. thankfully, i have very few days like this--with no appetite. do you serve your livers with a straightforward garden salad, claire?
First of all, I have to confess that after spending all day making autumn soup for not just us but some very sick friends, I copped out. The livers will be tomorrow or the day after (they were frozen).
That said, yes, just a very simple lettuce garden salad, dressed with a simple oil & vinegar dressing. Then the livers are cut (make sure to at least pierce the lobes or the damned things explode), flour, salt & pepper, and quickly fry in about a half inch of oil, turning once (if you happen to have a jar of bacon fat, which I do, that's ideal).
Drain on a paper towel, place on the salad, then sprinkle it all with balsamic vinegar.
A perfect topping for this is very crisp fried onions. Fortunately, nowadays you can buy several versions (even in my small town) in the produce sections with the croutons. But of course my husband likes it best when I do it myself:
Thin slice a good onion (ok, there aren't bad onions!). Let sit in a bowl of ice water for awhile (really doesn't matter how long, just to crisp it). Drain and dry a bit, then toss in the aforementioned flour, S&P. Put into the fat (before cooking the livers) at quite high heat, and pull out as they crisp and brown. Put on paper towels while you do the livers.
Salad on the bottom, then livers, then the balsamic, then the crispy onions.
Yumm yumm.