Liver and Onions

Before you grimace and skip to the next section, remember that organ meats have lots of advantages. Most importantly, they are full of nutrients, including some that are hard to find in other foods. The societies studied by Weston Price prized the organ meats and the fat above other parts of the animal. I recommend eating them at least once a week. Because it is so high in nutrients, a kilo of liver goes a lot further than a kilo of any other meat. And if you team it with pumpkin, you have a nourishing, economical meal.

I know Liver and Onions is a rather old fashioned dish, but it’s simple and tasty, especially when put with a sweet vegetable like pumpkin or kumera. The sweetness of the veges offsets the strong taste of the liver and makes a pleasant combination. This is the amount I use for two adults, so adjust for your family’s needs.

First, prepare your vegetables. If you’re in a hurry, go for mashed pumpkin. Chop up into small pieces and take the skin off. Boil up in some salted, filtered water while cooking the liver and onions. Drain well and mash with a large dollop of butter and some paprika.

If you’ve got a bit more time, some roast vegetables are nice. Chop up pumpkin as above, or some kumara, or any combination of pumpkin, kumara, toka toka or potato. Toss them in whatever good fats you’ve got to hand – chicken fat, lard, tallow, extra virgin olive oil – and some sea salt. Bake at around 200C for 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour, depending on how big you cut the veges.

Chop an onion in half, then slice each half thinly. Cook up in a fry pan with a generous amount of butter, till softened. Meanwhile, slice the liver (200gm for two people) as thinly as you can. Cut each piece in half, so you end up with pieces that are roughly 3-4 cm by 3-4 cm, and maybe 1/3 cm thin. Push the onions to one side, add a little extra butter and fry up the liver quickly on both sides, till just browned. You want the liver just cooked, so that it doesn’t get tough. Mix the onions through, add a dash of sea salt, and serve straight away with the vegetables.

This is quite a rich dish, so a green side salad goes with it nicely.

This recipe comes from my Whole Food Cooking course, which I’m partway through writing. This is designed to help introduce people to the principles of whole food cooking, in a step by step, easy to implement way, and will be available soon.