Liver Pate and Chopped Liver

I'd never had liver.  I'd never seen liver.  I had no idea what it tasted like.  Until yesterday.  I finally did some experimenting with liver.  It is so good for you.  Even in small amounts.  And it's especially good for fertility.  So I requested the liver when we ordered our beef this year.  My first impression upon opening the package...interesting.  And very soft.  I've heard that pate is one of the most palatable ways to eat liver, so I decided to start with that.  I found several liver recipes on Kat's Food Blog.  And since liver pate and chopped liver were so similar I tried them both!  Basically one has hard boiled egg and the other doesn't.  I couldn't really tell the difference when I tasted them.  My thoughts after trying the liver...interesting :p  I tried a chunk while I was cooking it.  And we had it for dinner.  Honestly, I thought the plain liver (sauted with butter and onions) was better than the pate.  Justin and I could eat a little of the pate/chopped liver.  But it's not something I'd want a lot of at one time.  Rebecca on the other hand scarfed it down :P  She literally ate it by the fistful.  I had to stop her and tell her to use a spoon.  Eating liver pate with your hands is a bit messy :)  I served it on homemade sourdough crackers.  The recipe for the pate calls for cranberries.  I served ours with dried cherries on the side.  I like the contrasting flavor the cherries added.  And it's good with cheese on the cracker too.  Overall not too bad.  But nothing amazing.  I froze most of it so I can take out a little at a time to eat a bite here and there.  I wouldn't put it on my list of favorite foods.  But it's not as bad as some people make it out to be.  I'll be trying a different liver recipe on Friday.  And I just bought some chicken liver, so that will be my next experiment.  I've heard of different methods for soaking the liver.  I soaked it in milk for a couple hours.  Maybe I'll try lemon juice next time.  I've also heard slicing the liver thinly helps.  I just used whole chunks (the way I got it from the butcher).  Maybe next time I'll try slicing it.  The nice thing about both of these dishes is that they are very easy and quick to prepare.  And they don't require the oven :)

Liver Pate with Cranberries (or cherries)

1/2 lb. (1 cup) liver
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 cup water

1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup dried cranberries, sweetened in apple juice or honey (or dried cherries or whatever dried fruit you like)

Soak liver for 1+ hour in lemon juice (or milk). Rinse well.

Add liver, onion, bay leaf, white pepper and thyme to a saucepan with water. Cook at a simmer for a few minutes until liver is mostly cooked. Set aside and cool.

Add liver and onions to a blender or food processor. Add butter, salt and pepper and pulse until smooth. Mix in cranberries by hand.

Scoop into small dishes and cool in refrigerator. Serve on slices of cheese (or crackers).

Chopped Liver

1 lb. liver

2 large onions

3 hard boiled eggs

butter

pepper
sea salt

Cook eggs ahead of time. Heat butter in a large skillet, add the onions and saute 5 minutes. Add the liver, pepper and salt, saute until liver is almost done (still some pink inside). Let cool a bit and then put liver and onions in a food processor. Add eggs and process to desired consistency. You can have this chunky, or completely smooth (I made it smooth...chunky just seemed weird.).