Posts Tagged‘sweet and sour’

Best Liver Ever – Crispy Liver with Sweet Sour Spicy Onions

by KitchenRebel on September 12, 2014

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If you like liver you will love this Crispy Liver and Sweet Sour Spicy Onion recipe. If you don’t like liver, this might make you change your mind about liver.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins and minerals, but their micronutrient content doesn’t always hold up to what is found in meats and organ meats – especially liver.  It’s why liver is known as natures most potent super foods.

  • An excellent source of high-quality protein
  • Contains all of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K
  • Nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A, which is rapidly depleted during periods of stress, as well as by consuming a low-fat diet
  • All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
  • One of our best sources of natural folate
  • A highly usable form of iron
  • Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
  • CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
  • A good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA

Sweet Sour Spicy Onions:

ingredients

2-3 tblsp Olive oil
2 Onions, sliced
1 Jalepeno Pepper, sliced
1/2 tsp Cayenne (optional if you like it with a real spicy kick)
1/2 tsp Smoked or Sweet Paprika
6 tblsp Red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
juice of half lemon
Salt to taste

instructions

  1. Heat olive oil in pan till medium hot
  2. Add onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes until onions begin to soften
  3. Add jalapeño pepper
  4. Sauté for 5-6 minutes until onions start to brown
  5. Add paprika, and cayenne pepper (if using), add 1/2 teaspoon salt, saut̩ for 2 Р3 minutes, till fragrant and start caramelizing
  6. Add vinegar, stir to deglaze pan. Deglazing is when you use liquid to get all the brown bits off the bottom of pan
  7. Add brown sugar and lemon juice. Stir through and let liquid cook off for 1-2 minutes
  8. Check seasoning, add salt.
  9. Remove from heat and set aside.

 

Heat olive oil in pan till medium hot unnamed-1

Add onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes until onions begin to softenunnamed-2

Add jalapeño pepper unnamed-3

Sauté for 5-6 minutes until onions start to brownunnamed-4

Add paprika, and cayenne pepper (if using), add 1/2 teaspoon salt, sauté for 2 – 3 minutes, till fragrant and start caramelizing unnamed-5

Add vinegar, stir to deglaze pan. Deglazing is when you use liquid to get all the brown bits off the bottom of panunnamed-6

Add brown sugar and lemon juice. Stir through and let liquid cook off for 1-2 minutesunnamed-20

Check seasoning, add salt.
Remove from heat and set aside. unnamed-8

 

Crispy Liver

Calfs liver has a milder flavour. Always eat organic meat, especially organ meats.

I always soak liver in water to get rid of excess blood and the ‘liver’ taste. Remove skin, cut out any sinews. Rinse well.

ingredients

1 lb Calf Liver
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 dashes (about 1-2 tsp) worcestershire sauce
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup olive oil for frying

instructions

  1. Soak liver in water to get rid of excess blood. Remove any skin, cut out sinews. Rinse and drain well. Cut into desired size.
  2. Put liver in a bowl add soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and black pepper. Marinate for at least 30 minutes
  3. Heat olive oil in pan till medium hot
  4. Add flour to shallow dish, dredge liver pieces in flour
  5. Carefully add liver to hot oil. Always drop away from you to avoid splashes
  6. Fry liver for 2-3 minutes per side, until outside is browned and crispy, and liver is just cooked through
  7. Serve with onions, and mashed potatoes.

 

Prep and marinade liver: Soak liver in water to get rid of excess blood. Remove any skin, cut out sinews. Rinse and drain well. Cut into desired size. Put liver in a bowl add soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and black pepper. Marinate for 30 minutes unnamed-10

In a pan, heat olive oil till medium hot
Add flour to shallow dish, dredge liver pieces in flour unnamed-11

Carefully add liver to hot oil. Always drop away from you to avoid splashes unnamed-14

Fry liver for 2-3 minutes per side, until outside is golden brown and liver is just cooked through unnamed-15
Serve with onions, and mashed potatoes.

My favourite is liver and onion sandwiches. And I love it with extra onions!

unnamed-17

Chicken Marbella

by KitchenRebel on May 21, 2012

4,425 Comments

For quite some time I’ve wanted to try the popular Silver Palate Chicken Marbella recipe. Olives, prunes, vinegar, wine and bay leaves sounded like it had some ooey gooey sweet sour potential. This weekend I finally tried the recipe. I made some slight changes for convenience, mostly because I didn’t feel like going back to the store to get dried oregano, so I used fresh from the garden.

 

Ingredients:

2lbs chicken thighs (i used 8 thighs, nearly 3 lbs)

Salt and pepper

½ head of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

2 Tbsp dried oregano

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup pitted prunes, halved

½ cup green olives

¼ cup capers with a bit of juice

3 bay leaves

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cups white wine

2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped

 

The original recipe was:

1. Combine all ingredients, except white wine and brown sugar, and marinate overnight.

2. Then arrange chicken in single layer in baking pan, spoon over marinade, sprinkle with sugar and white wine.

3. Bake for 50 mins to 1 hour, basting frequently.

4. Add chopped parsley before serving.

 

I did things a little differently..

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

2. In large bowl or ziploc bag, mix all the ingredients together to make marinade.

3. Toss chicken in marinade.

4. I marinaded for 2 hours (I was pressed for time)

5. Bake at 350 for 1hr 15mins, till chicken is tender and juices are running clear.

6. With slotted spoon transfer chicken pieces to serving dish.

7. Pour sauce/pan juices into sauce pan, simmer for a few mins. I did this to break down the prunes further, and mostly to remove any excess oil.

8. I poured off all excess oil, then poured sauce over chicken.

9. I forgot to add the chopped parsley before serving.

 

I took this pic while the chicken was cooling, before I removed the bay leaves.  I had every intention of taking pics once i plated, but we started tasting and tasting.. and tasting some more.. before I knew it there was only 3 pieces left and we were in a chicken coma headed for the couch.

 

We really enjoyed this dish.  Slightly sweet and tangy.  Very similar taste profile to an old fashioned South African sweet and sour meat dish, called Denningvleis, where tamarind is used to for the fruity tangy sour flavour, instead of prunes and wine.  Denningvleis is one of the oldest recorded recipes in South African history.  The combination of sweet, sour and aromatic spices very evocative of Indonesian cuisine.

 

An interesting little fact about Denningvleis – every time I’ve made it, its wowed people, I can’t tell you how many catering jobs I’ve landed based on that dish alone.

 

This was a great flavour profile, clearly one thats been around for a long long time.  I found chicken marbella to be a tame, toned down version of the old fashioned dish.

 

I can’t wait to explore this flavour profile again, next time using a “Denning-chicken” recipe.