Liver and Onions

Liver and onions were a favorite supper in my family when I was a boy. My wife said it was also a favorite meal in her family. You have to love a home cooked dinner of delicious liver and onions.

It's hard to get a good photograph of the goodness and wonderful flavor of calves liver and onions. I fixed up this plate so you'd see both the liver and the onions. Of course, when you serve it, you need to have enough caramelized onions to cover the liver.

Ingredients:

• Flour
• Calf or lamb liver (as much liver as your family can eat)
• 6 or more large onions, halved and sliced thin (I use sweet onions)
• Olive oil (you don't need extra virgin to fry!)
• 1/2 stick of butter to cook the onions; and another 1/2 stick to cook the liver 
• Salt
• Pepper
• Heavy skillet (I like to use my cast iron skillet.)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven for warming (I use 285 degrees) 

Preheat a skillet just above medium. Pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet (about 4-6 Tablespoons should do it). Drop 1/2 stick of butter in the skillet and mix it in with the olive oil. 

Put the sliced onions in the skillet. Use your spatula to toss the onions to get them all coated with butter. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the onions. Cook the onions, stirring them only now and then, until they are golden brown (caramelized). This should take about 30-40 minutes. The onions will be nice and soft and sticky. Turn the onions out into a glass baking dish and put it in the oven to keep them warm.

Pour a sufficient amount of flour in a glass dish to coat all of your liver (likely 2 cups or more of flour). 

Wipe out the skillet and return it to the hot burner. Coat the bottom of the skillet with olive oil. Toss another 1/2 stick of butter into the skillet.

Turn each side of each piece of liver in the flour to cover both sides well. Shake off the excess flour and lay all of the liver in the hot skillet. Salt and pepper the meat. Cook the first side for about 4 minutes. Peek under a piece now and then and if the heat's too high, turn it down. Turn the liver over and cook the other side for 3-4 minutes. Salt and pepper the second side. When the liver looks done, use a paring knife to cut into a piece of liver to make sure it's cooked well. If you still see blood, leave the liver in the skillet for another minute or so. The meat is thin, so more often than not, 4 minutes on each side is an adequate amount of time to cook liver.

Turn the liver out to a beautiful platter. Use your hot mitts to pull the hot onion dish from the oven and then cover the liver with the onions. Set the hot liver and onions, mashed potatoes, vegetable, hot yeast rolls 'n butter, Cholula sauce, and salt and pepper on the table and holler, "Y'all come!"