Turkey Liver with Sage & Onion on Polenta
It had just been too, too long since I last enjoyed a nice meal with liver... and don't go rolling your eyes at me! If you don't think it is as delicious as I do- of course it is all a matter of taste... but you are missing out on something wonderful! Especially if it is my favorite- turkey liver, which is in my opinion the tastiest, mildest and has the best consistency of any liver I have tried.
The flavors are also pretty classic... sage and onion, with bacon, rosemary and garlic and then a sprinkle of oregano at the end to show my Sicilian roots again! And to make this dish just as wonderful and delicious as can be!
The first thing to do with the liver, is to cut away any sinews on the bottom side of it and then to lightly lift off the gossamer-thin membrane that covers it... if you can! It is a little tricky, but if you slide a sharp knife below the edge of your cut, you can lift it and gently pull it away. You should at least give this a go as it WILL make the liver more tender later if you can manage it.
I then trimmed it into shape and laid a sage leaf on top. The sage I got today just so happened to have HUGE leaves! If your sage is not quite as large, go ahead and use 2 or 3 leaves- you want to get plenty of flavor in there! Lay a 2-3" piece of Spring onion on top of the sage leaf and wrap the whole thing together with a thin rasher of bacon. Finished!
Start frying your bacon-wrapped liver parcels in a hot frying pan from the rear side first. As soon as it begins to sizzle, reduce the heat and add your slices of polenta into the frying pan too. I admittedly used a pre-cooked polenta and recommend you do the same thing if you are preparing this dish for yourself or just for 2 people. Life is too short to go to all the trouble otherwise for something so simple!
Pop a crushed clove of garlic into the pan and a pat of butter and continue frying, flipping the polenta and the liver occasionally until they begin to brown. When the polenta is nice and golden, add a few leaves of rosemary and some coarsely ground black pepper. I hope you know that liver should not be seasoned with salt until it is fully cooked as it otherwise becomes tough as shoe leather... if not- well you do now!
Once the polenta is nice and golden, remove it from the pan and add a nice sprinkle of oregano to the liver. Add a good splash of balsamic vinegar, a squeeze of honey and now, finally your salt- and stir the liver around until it gets a wonderful golden glaze... delicious!
Serve with some fresh arugula and enjoy with a glass of Corvo (of course!). And I am pretty sure even a non-lover-lover will love this! Of course... I happen to be slightly biased there ;-)... but you will!
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