Although the offal of some housewives is not in honor, probably the most popular of them can be called the liver. It is from it that you can cook the most delicious dishes. In addition, they are also incredibly useful. The liver is rich in a variety of vitamins, in particular A, B2 and C. Do not forget about amino acids and antioxidants. This product is worth preparing soups, main dishes and snacks from it. But today we will learn how to make liver salad. This is a very tasty dish that is liked by the vast majority of people. Even those of them who do not like the “insides” too much will be struck by their refined taste.
Which product is better to use?
Liver salads are an indispensable accessory of the cuisine of almost all the peoples of the world. Use beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey liver. A calf liver is considered a delicacy. And in some expensive restaurants you can even try a salad of quail liver or partridge. Goose liver, especially foie gras, is an addition to many French snacks.
The liver is usually combined with vegetables - fresh and pickled, as well as eggs, potatoes, mushrooms, nuts, tomatoes and paprika. This is such a universal product that leaves great opportunities for personal experiments. So learn the basic rules and be able to cook original and unique dishes. Products for liver salad are usually diced. And you can fill it with different sauces - mayonnaise, vegetable or olive oil. You can prepare your own dressing for him.
Liver salad: ingredients
The simplest form of this snack does not require any "overseas" products. When preparing it, you can use what almost every housewife has at home. For a pound of liver, we need two onions, a can of green peas, one carrot and several pickles. This combination of products perfectly emphasizes the taste of the liver.
Season this salad with salt and black pepper (usually a pinch). Nutmeg is sometimes added. Spices are best taken freshly ground. It is advisable to use mayonnaise as a salad dressing. You can take a purchase, but it is better to make it yourself. Then you will know that all your ingredients are of high quality, there are no emulsifiers and harmful additives in them. Before cooking, remove the film from the liver, for which it should first be scalded. Some chefs advise to soak it first in milk, so that bitterness disappears. Carrots must be washed and peeled.
Cooking salad
The liver for this snack must be cooked. We know that many in this form do not like her. But believe me, in liver salad it will seem to you unusually tasty. You will not spend much time on this salad. After all, the liver is cooked faster than meat, especially poultry. When it cools, it should be finely (julienne) chopped. Onions for this salad are cut in half rings, and it is better to rub the carrots. Then the vegetables should be fried in vegetable oil until they turn golden. Cut pickles very finely. Now mix all the ingredients together. Salt and pepper to taste, at the end we season with mayonnaise.
If the salad is too dry, add vegetable oil, in which onions and carrots were fried. Usually it is decorated with parsley. This classic liver salad recipe can be diversified by adding boiled eggs and walnuts. Then it will become more satisfying and festive.
Combination of liver and mushrooms
This appetizer is usually eaten very quickly after you put it on the table. How to cook a liver salad with mushrooms? To do this, take a veal liver. Its delicate taste goes well with champignons. For three hundred grams of calf liver, you will need to take several pickled cucumbers, three eggs and 200-300 grams of mushrooms. Remove the film from a well-washed liver, boil for 20 minutes (water can be slightly salted), cool and cut into slices. Mushrooms are peeled and fried in oil. Cutting them too finely is not worth it, since during heat treatment they are greatly reduced in size. Hard boiled eggs, peeled and crushed in the form of cubes. Cucumbers are cut into small pieces. All prepared foods are mixed in a salad bowl, seasoned with black pepper and mayonnaise. Sprinkle with parsley and chopped olives.
Puff liver salad
The recipe for this appetizer is one of the most popular. Cooking it is simple, but it rightfully occupies a prominent place on the festive table. This salad is usually made from chicken liver, which we need a pound. We boil it until cooked and, as in previous recipes, cut into strips. Five pickled cucumbers finely chopped. Separately, cook 4 carrots, then peel and grate them coarsely. Finely chopped onion (4 pieces) pass. Boil the eggs, cool, separate the proteins from the yolks.
Now spread the liver salad in layers. First comes the offal (half the amount that we boiled and cut). Lubricate with mayonnaise, then spread half the fried onions, pickled cucumbers, carrots and egg whites. Grease each layer with mayonnaise. Repeat the bookmark sequence. And sprinkle grated yolks on top. Such salad is decorated in different ways - with herbs, culinary "roses" cut out from fresh cucumbers, olives. Before serving, it should stand for several hours in the refrigerator so that all layers are uniformly saturated.
Cheese and Garlic Snack
This is a very high-calorie salad, which is well suited for recovery after illness. It is a little spicy and pungent, so it is often liked by men. This liver salad with eggs, cheese and garlic is made from beef offal. All ingredients for it should be ground on a grater or in a blender.
There are several ways to make such a salad. In the first, you need to chop the boiled liver and carrots. Then finely rub the cheese and eggs. All this is mixed, dressed with mayonnaise, where several cloves of garlic are squeezed. In the festive version, the snack is stacked in layers. Half the liver with mayonnaise and garlic goes down to a high-wall dish, the bottom of which is strewn with lettuce leaves. Then we lay carrots, eggs, cheese. The second half of the liver is the uppermost layer. And every time we do not forget to coat the layers of salad with mayonnaise. It can be eaten as an independent dish.
Mushrooms and cheese
This is an interesting version of a holiday snack, which can be replaced by the bored Olivier. Liver salad with cheese and mushrooms is made from pork offal. The latter, of course, needs to be boiled in a whole piece, previously soaked in milk. We will need 200 grams of liver, raw champignons, hard cheese. Take also one or two fresh cucumbers. While the liver is boiling, we clean the mushrooms, cut not too finely, and then fry in vegetable oil. After that, we cut the straws into cucumbers, mix with mushrooms, chop the cooled liver, add to the salad. Finally, grind the cheese on a coarse grater. Sometimes boiled eggs are placed in this appetizer.
The best dressing for this salad is mayonnaise, which added a little salt and mustard. It can be laid out in portions and garnished with greens.
With peas
This appetizer is made quite simple and does not require much time from the cook. But the method of its preparation is different from all previous ones. How to make liver salad with peas? We take 250 or 300 grams of chicken offal, rinse under running water. Cut the raw liver into pieces. Fry for about seven minutes in a pan, in vegetable oil. Salt a little before turning off the gas. We spread the liver in a heated plate. Three onions cut into half rings. Then fry in a separate frying pan until golden brown. We rub three raw carrots coarsely and send to the onion. Mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl. Add a can of green canned peas, salt, and pepper. This salad is best served with sour cream.
Gourmet
For such a salad, in addition to half a kilogram of beef liver, you will need 300 grams of broccoli cabbage and as many small salad tomatoes, cherry is best. We prepare the liver, but do not boil it, but fry it with small cubes, making sure that it remains soft. Broccoli must be blanched. That is, lower the inflorescences of this cabbage in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then rinse them with cold water. Then we fry it in olive oil. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, add to the cabbage and keep it all on fire for about three minutes. A few tablespoons of mustard are mixed with the same amount of balsamic vinegar. Now we are ready for training.
It remains to arrange the salad in portions. First, we place the liver on the plates. Top with fried vegetables, watered with dressing. And the last detail - sprinkle with crushed cedar nuts or cashew nuts.
"Lust"
The classic recipe for liver salad can be varied. Fry one onion in vegetable oil until soft. Add carrots chopped on a coarse grater there. We continue to fry the vegetables together for another five minutes. My chicken liver, cut into pieces. Send her to the vegetables. We fry on low heat until the blood ceases to stand out. Add spices at the end. Cool, open a jar of corn, drain the liquid, mix with liver and vegetables. 4 hard boiled eggs. Each of them is cut into 8 parts. Add to the salad. We season it with mayonnaise, salt to taste, decorate with greens, corn, olives or olives.
This truly masculine liver salad with corn is a godsend for a romantic dinner.
With turkey liver
If the guests came unexpectedly, and you have a frozen bird's liver, then this is salvation for you. A hearty appetizer that will appeal to everyone who loves meat. Liver salad with pickled onions requires a minimum of products. A kilogram of offal, 5-6 medium onions and mayonnaise - that's all. The turkey liver is ideal for him. Beef and pork can be too harsh, and chicken is very small. Cook it until tender. At this time, cut the onion in half rings and cook the marinade. Mix half a glass of vinegar with 250 grams of water, add 4 teaspoons of sugar. Pour all this onion for half an hour. Cool the finished liver, cut into strips. Add onions and mayonnaise. This sauce is best prepared by yourself, but, in extreme cases, you can take a purchased one. Now mix the liver, onion, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, the salad is ready
Foie gras salad
This type of goose or duck liver is perfect for all kinds of holiday snacks. Here is a recipe for one of them. Take the leaves of arugula - about a hundred grams. Rinse with cold water. Prepare dressing - three tablespoons of olive oil for one balsamic vinegar. Dress them with arugula leaves. Remove the canned liver (foie gras) from the jar and cut into slices. Put arugula leaves dressed with dressing on a flat salad plate. Above, in a circle - chopped liver, whole cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced champignons. This salad can also be served at banquets.
Last few tips
So, we saw that even such an offal, like the liver, can serve as the basis of both nutritious and wholesome “every day” dishes, and exquisite restaurant dishes. There can be many options for salads. The liver is combined with herbs, and with vegetables, and with marinades. You can fill such salads with mayonnaise, dressing from vinegar and olive oil, sour cream and other sauces. And you can also make pancakes from it, which, cut into pieces, are used as ingredients for salads. You can try to play in contrasts, and thus discover new taste in the liver. Dare and experiment, and you will see that it is very easy to create culinary miracles.