This makes a sensational brunch – the key to the theatre is to get the amount of brandy right. Too little and it will barely light, too much (as usually happens to me) and you’re dealing with a towering inferno for 30 seconds!
Devilled Chicken Livers with Brandy
A delicious breakfast or lunch, the key to this recipe is to be well prepared
Equipment
- 1 Large frying pan
Ingredients
- 400 g Chicken livers Or whatever size a packet is
- 6 Mushrooms, halved Or however many you like really
- 4 rashers Streaky bacon Smoked
- 2 Shallots Or half a small onion
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1 knob Butter
- 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
- 1 splash Brandy
- 150 ml Double cream Or thereabouts
- 1 tsp English mustard
- 1 hanfdul Fresh parsley Chopped
- 2 slices Toast to serve Sourdough
Instructions
- Pick over the livers and cut away any nasty bits (easier to do is semi-frozen)
- Finely chop the shallot and garlic
- Cut the bacon up into bits and start it off frying in the pan with a little oil, give it a minute or two to colour then add the onion, garlic and mushrooms
- Now is the time to make sure you have everything lined up and easily to hand, things can get a little hectic after the livers go in and you do not want to then suddenly realise you can't find the cayenne pepper!
- Once the onion/garlic/bacon mix has suitably softened and coloured, move the mix to one side of the pan, turn up the heat add a knob of butter, let it melt, and add your livers into it.
- Allow the livers to develop colour and gently flip them in the pan, after a minute or two you can reintegrate the bacon and onion mix and add the cayenne pepper. Add more butter if they start sticking.
- Once all the livers have coloured and you're not seeing any big pink bits add a big slug of brandy and set fire to it – watch your eyebrows!
- Give the pan a shake and generally look like a pro until the fire goes out, then add enough cream to form a sauce and a teaspoon of mustard along with a pinch mo0re cayenne if thats your vibe.
- Mix in a handful of the chopped parsley, saving some to garnish with at the end and now generally cook this until you think the livers are done. This will kinda depend on how long they have already been in for, but you're probably looking at around another 3-5 mins. (see notes below)
- Get your toast on now (or sooner)
- When the toast is ready and the livers are done, plate up and garnish with the remaining parsley a generous grind of pepper and maybe a little sprinkle of crunchy rock salt if you have it.
Notes
The end goal is for the livers to be seared on the outside and a sort of medium on the inside. They should be soft and a bit pink in the middle, if you overcook them they will go hard and have a nasty grainy texture!