Peri-Peri Chicken Livers

Keyword African Bird's Eye Pepper, Peri-Peri Pepper

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1

Servings Servings

Calories 683kcal

6 peri-peri peppers finely chopped, seeds and all.
7 ounces fresh red tomatoes I prefer the cherry variety
1 can peeled, chopped tomatoes 14 ounce can
9 ounces fresh mushrooms sliced
1 medium onion thinly sliced
2 cloves fresh garlic peeled and sliced
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 heaped teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice approximately the juice of one lime (its sharper tang works here better than lemon)
2 bay leaves

Put the chicken livers into a bowl and add the sage, thyme, and black pepper. Pour in the milk and use your fingers to gently give the livers a coating of the milky mix. Leave aside to stand for half an hour or so while you prep the ingredients for your sauce and the spinach side-dish.

The spinach. Put all the spinach into a sink full of cold water. Take each leaf and tear out most of its stalk, then place the prepped leaf into a colander to drain. Repeat for all the leaves.
Put all the prepped spinach into a bowl with cold water and about half a dozen ice cubes. This icy trick will ‘revive’ the spinach and make it firmer and crisper – more like the day it was harvested.
Sprinkle ground sea salt over the finely sliced garlic and keep chopping. You’ll find that it’ll quickly turn into a salty garlic paste.

Finely dice the chilies – seeds and all. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters and the mushrooms in ¼ inch (5cms) slices. Dice the bacon into small pieces sort of about 1/8 inch ‘square’. Thinly slice the garlic. Last up, halve the onions and slice them into thin slivers – kind of about the thickness of a matchstick.

The aim is to fry them in hot, buttery bacon fat so they get a little charred on the outside.
Set a hotplate to medium-high. Put a large, heavy-based skillet on it and add half of the butter. The moment it foams, add the bacon and onions. Give the whole lot a good stir and let it fry for about 7 minutes. Give it a few stirs so the bacon starts to melt and the onions soften.
Use a slotted spoon to remove all the bacon and onions. Get the skillet back onto the heat and add the remaining half of the butter. As it starts foaming, turn the heat to high and immediately add all the chicken livers. At first, there’s going to be a lot of sizzling. That’s good. After two minutes - heat still on high – turn the livers over in the skillet. As soon as they’re slightly charred, remove them with a slotted spoon, keeping as much of the fat as you can in the pan.

Turn the skillet down to medium and add the melted bacon and softened onion, plus all the sauce ingredients. You want the tomatoes to lose most of their body, so keep stirring a few times as you let the sauce cook for about 15 minutes at a gentle simmer. Turn off the heat and let the sauce sit while you cook the spinach.

Put a large pan onto medium heat and add the butter. As soon as it melts, add the finely chopped garlic and salt mix and let it gently fry for 2 minutes with a couple of stirs. Thoroughly drain the spinach from its icy water and pile it all into the pan. Give it good stir to pick up the butter and garlic, turn the heat to low and put a lid on the pan.

Now add all the livers to the sauce in the skillet on medium-high. As soon as the sauce starts to bubble, turn the heat to low, give the livers a gentle stir and let them simmer in the sauce for their final cooking.
That will take about 5 minutes, by which time the spinach will be done. So, you’re ready to serve.
The sauce probably deserves some slices of buttered baguette to round up every last trace on your plate.