My mother came from a Jewish community in a small village in Poland
(Yashenovke, not far from Bialostok). This was traditionally eaten as the
entrée for the Friday night (shabbot) meal.
1 pound fresh chicken livers
2 cups finely chopped onions
3 hard-boiled eggs
3 tablespoons smaltz*
salt and black pepper to taste
gribenes** (optional)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- Sauté the fresh chicken liver in vegetable oil, 4-5 minutes. Liver should be cooked through, but soft. Don’t overcook.
- Remove from frying pan and permit to cool.
- In the meantime, fry the onions in the shmaltz over a low heat, until the onions are soft and light brown.
- When the liver is cool enough, grate on a coarse grater, or chop finely.
- Add the onions and the smaltz to the liver.
- Grate, or finely chop, the hard boiled eggs, and add them to the liver.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the gribenes.
- Mix everything well and chill for 3-4 hours.
Serve on a piece of lettuce garnished with a tomato, or with kosher dill
pickle. I like it with pumpernickel bread.
* Smaltz is chicken fat. It is made by melting down (rendering) the fat and skin
of a chicken. The liquid fat is then poured into a jar and chilled in the
refrigerator.
** Gribenes are the very flavourful (spicey) bits of skin that do
not melt down when making smaltz. They are a bit like kosher “bacon rind” and
about as healthy.
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