Another attempt at Offal

Tonight I stopped by the market and picked up some protein for dinners the next few days. I've been in a short rib kick so I picked up a package. My intention was to pick up a package of chicken for tonight, but then I saw the beef liver. I consider liver to be in the offal category: internal organs and all. I've experimented in the realm of offal, meaning that I've tasted liver, heart and tongue. I enjoy liver when it's done right, but I haven't had much luck in cooking it. It's either overcooked, or there's too much flour and it's usually tasteless. But I thought, just check out some recipes online and go for it. It was a long day at work, and I was ready to order Chinese and crawl into bed, but cooking is about taking risks and despite being tired I was ready for a challenge. I didn't follow a recipe, as per usual, but this was influenced by my search on Epicurious. So tonight's dinner: Beef liver with peas and onions.

Ingredients

3 fillets beef liver, cleaned and de-veined 

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons thyme

olive oil

1 vidalia onion, sliced

1/8 cup garlic, sliced

1 cup port

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

I seasoned the flour and tossed the liver in it until coated. I sauteed the liver in olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet for about 90 seconds on each side. I removed the liver from the skillet, set it aside and tented it. I then added the onions and garlic, reduced the heat to medium and cooked for 2 minutes. Then went in the peas and port. I brought the temperature back up and brought the sauce to a boil for 10 minutes, until the alcohol burnt off. 

After 10 minutes I put the liver back in the pan and coated them with the sauce. I then continued cooking them for 3 minutes. I sliced the liver and served it over a bed of peas and rice and topped with the peas and onions. 

The result was a mixed bag. The peas and rice were too heavily laced with coconut milk. Next time I'll make a starch just for the dish. But in terms of the dish itself, the liver was tender and moist. The sauce was a bit sweet, but it tasted pretty good. Next time I'll try mixing the port with some beef broth to give it a bit more depth of flavor. And the onions needed to saute a bit more before I added the liquid. But this was the best attempt at liver thus far. The highlights that I think made the difference? 1) Correct proportion in seasoning the flour. On my own, this is my weakest area. I never season flour properly, and I definitely drew from a few recipes on how much to put in. 2) I admit I tend to be lazy, and sometimes I don't pat down my meat after I clean it. Big mistake. Making sure there's no water on the meat and the flour isn't cakey before it goes in the pan is essential. 3) Shake off the excess flour. There's nothing worse than tasting clots of cooked flour in a dish. 4) Taking the meat out of the pan after 90 seconds and tenting it, then putting it back in with the sauce helped to retain the moisture and prevented the liver from being well done. Well-done liver is chewy and unappetizing.

Thanks Epicurious for the inspiration!