Warm Chicken Liver Salad

Begin with the artichokes, which take longest to cook. Bring a pot of water on the stove to the boil (as the English say). Add a handful of salt. Squeeze in the lemon, tossing in the peels if you’d like.

To prepare artichokes, you’ll need a serrated knife and a vegetable peeler. Begin by breaking off the outer dark leaves until you reach the inner, lighter yellow leaves. Your artichoke may be dirty. Just give it a rinse. Mind the spiky leaf tips, which you should cut off.

Now you have the bulging bottom stem and heart, topped by yellow leaves. Take the vegetable peeler and “turn” it around the heart, trimming off any sharp or inedible edges, being careful not to slice into the heart. If you choke has a nice long stem, peel it, but don’t cut it off. What lies within is a delicious extension of the heart.

Some cookbooks advise yanking the heart out now. I find it easier going once the artichoke is cooked.

Drop the artichokes into the boiling water, cover the pot with a lid, and allow to cook for a good hour. It’s almost impossible to overcook an artichoke.

Clean up all those leaves and wash your knives. Artichokes do weird things to metal. Now move the clothes to the dryer (You have to, right?). Now call your significant other and remind him to contact the respiratory therapist about the stupid BiPap alarm that went off twice last night. Give the kitty her earmite medicine.

Okay. Chicken livers!

Chicken livers are highly perishable, so you don’t want to leave them out at room temperature too long. Defrost them in the fridge. To clean, set livers in a colander and run cool water over them. Gently tug off visible fat. If you see green, remove that, too, very carefully–it’s the bile sac, and breaking those makes for bitterness. Should you break one, just rinse well with water.

Pat livers dry with paper towels. I do this right in the colander.

Place a large skillet on the stove. Pour a generous amount of olive oil into the pan, just under a quarter-inch, and turn the heat to medium.

Now we’re going to coat the livers with seasoned flour. More energetic types would use egg and panko and more plates. And it would be good. Me, I tip the flour and seasonings into a pasta bowl, then lightly dredge each liver. You want to just coat, not spackle.

Transfer your lightly coated livers to a clean dish.

When all the livers are ready, add them to the skillet, along with the optional garlic clove, which is there for flavor.

A slug of Vermouth is nice here. A slug of Madeira is even nicer.

Okay, here is something I do you’ll either love or hate. I like to dump the leftover seasoned flour into the skillet. This means the livers will be a mix of crisp and gungy, with the extra coating cooking into utter yumminess, but some people will find this revolting and just want a crisply coated liver. If that’s you, toss the leftover flour.

Elizabeth David hated the word “crispy.”  But she adored chicken livers.

Now we get to the crux of the matter: cooking the livers. While you need a fairly snappy heat, you also need to turn the livers the moment you notice blood pearling up. Here’s what livers look like when they need flipping. This is not a pretty picture. Not all of them can be.

You may also need to turn the livers a few times to ensure their various “faces” cook. If the pan starts running dry, add a little more wine, water, or even a bit of olive oil.

All this said, you want livers pink in the middle. Not red, pink. Another doneness test: does your spatula cut through a liver cleanly and effortlessly? It’s cooked.

Cooking the livers should take about ten minutes, total. Transfer to a plate and leave someplace warm while you check the artichokes.

Test your artichokes by jabbing a fork into the bottom of one. If it slides right through, you’re in business. Resistance? Cook a little longer.

Once the artichokes are ready, drain them in your freshly washed colander (ahem…). While they cool enough to handle, prepare your salad greens.

Lay the washed, dried salad leaves of your choice in a dish. If you’d like a little sliced scallion, add it. Our market had fresh garlic, before it separates into heads. I used that.

Top with a serving of chicken livers. Hopefully by now the artichokes are cool. Slice them in half. Scrape choke out with a teaspoon. Quarter the heart and add to the salad.

For the vinaigrette: vinegar is a matter of taste. I suggest adding a teaspoon of white wine or Champagne vinegar to the olive oil, blending with a whisk or fork, then tasting. You may wish to add a little more vinegar or salt.

Pour over salad. Eat.

Frozen or canned artichokes may be substituted for fresh; if canned artichokes are marinated, be sure to rinse well before using.