the absolute best

my mother’s chopped liver

My English friend, Kristine, calls this "Marilyn's famous chicken liver paté."

This is one of those rare recipes where Mom’s is even better than Grandma’s.

I’ve converted many a self proclaimed chopped liver hater with this recipe.

It's the best, and what makes it the best is the onions. Lots of onions. Slow cooked until soft and caramelized. If you can make it with schmaltz, you’ll take it up to the ultimate level. If not, it’s still fabulous made with oil.

You can serve this with drinks as an hors d’oeuvre before dinner, with crackers, thin slices of baguette, or cucumber rounds. Or, serve it at the holiday table with challah.

I’m very picky about using liver. The liver is the body’s filtration system, so whatever the chicken eats will be found there. I will absolutely only use organic livers, and preferably from pasture-raised happy chickens.

Ingredients:

• 3 - 4 pounds white or yellow onions, sliced

• 1 pound organic chicken livers

• 1 egg, hardboiled

• ¼ cup schmaltz (or neutral oil such as avocado or sunflower)

• salt and pepper.

Method:

• Clean the livers, cutting away any fat and veins. 

• Melt 2 tablespoons of schmaltz in a skillet. Sauté the onions, with a light sprinkling of salt, over medium/low heat until very soft and golden brown, then remove them from the pan and put them into the bowl of a food processor. Slow cooking is what draws out the natural sugars from the onions.

• Add the rest of the schmaltz into the pan and add the livers. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and increase the heat to medium/high, and sauté the livers until they are nicely browned. You want them to cook to medium, a little pink inside, rather than well done, so that your finished product is not too dry. That will happen if you cook them over fairly high heat.

• When they are done, add them to the food processor.

• Quarter the egg and add it to the food processor with the livers and onions, scraping all the bits and juices from the pan. Add a few twists of the pepper mill and pulse until the mixture is fairly fine, but not paste. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.

• Chill the chopped liver in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. It’s best when it’s cold. Before serving, taste again. You’ll perceive the salt level differently when it’s cold, so add more if needed. If it tastes flat, it needs salt.

• Mound onto a serving dish and sprinkle the top with chopped parsley for color. 

• The chopped liver stays fresh in the refrigerator for up to three days.  It freezes brilliantly.