If It's Brunch, It's Liver and Onions
With Good, Crusty Bread
Today a post about our lives on a little farm, and how we eat what we grow. I like raising birds. It keeps me interested in life; to receive the little chicks, introduce them to their new home and the water source, feed and water them every day, and put them up when they’ve grown to a nice size. It’s a different life but it has its rewards. If you’re interested in country living and raising your own food, please subscribe to support my work!
On Friday we harvested our plump birds, 15 Rock Cross Chickens. Here they are on Thursday:
It took just 7 weeks to grow the birds from little 2 inch chicks to these plump roasters. They are free range as well, so they spend 15 hours a day running around in a large fenced in yard. At night I put them away into a small 64 square house to keep them from predators, of which we have many. After defeathering and eviscerating the birds, a few were 6 pounds, but most landed at 5 1/2 pounds.
On Saturday, we butchered some to wings, leg quarters and split breast. Each side of the split breast weighed 20 ounces. Wow, dinner and sandwiches the next day. On Sunday, I cleaned the chicken house, and put all the tools away, including the plucker. It’s a three day chore.
Apart from the meat, we also put away 13 quarts of stock for winter soup, and livers, gizzards and hearts for pate. But a few livers, 1 1/2 cups about, we made for breakfast on Sunday when the work was done. Recipe below:
1 large onion sliced
4 tablespoons of chicken fat from the stock, or 4 TBLS of butter
Cook the onion in the fat with 2 TSPs of salt, and lots of freshly ground black pepper - there should be a little bite to the finished dish
Add a TBLS of your favorite fresh herb minced, thyme, sage or parsley are all nice options
Chop up 1 1/2 cups of chicken livers.
When the onions are nice and soft add the livers and cook until well done.
Remove the pan from the heat. Optional: After a minute, add a TBLS of apple cider vinegar. I like a little acid touch to the dish, but it’s optional.
Serve with good bread of your choice, crusty baguette or sourdoughs are really good with chicken livers. Enjoy!
