Delia's lasagna recipe - chicken livers yay or nay??

Cadiz

Cooking a lasagna tomorrow.

Delia's recipe for the ragu calls for chicken livers (3oz, chopped small) along with the mince (and streaky bacon).

Could I leave out the chicken livers? Have bad childhood memories of liver. Or would it taste much better with them in??

mike rolite

I tried that recipe before and thought there was too much liver in it. I would recommend cutting the liver quantity in half.

Cadiz

Yeah to 6 oz of mince and 2 oz of bacon 3 oz of liver seems like a lot!

I would be gutted if it tasted strongly of liver!! :eek:

Cadiz

Made it without the chicken livers altogether, added more mince instead.

It was really tasty, but I think I would use a bechamel sauce rather than Delia's cream sauce next time, I thought hers was a bit blander than I liked.

the beer revolu

I use chicken livers in Bolognese (although maybe not 3oz to 6oz mince).
Tastes great - and I don't really like liver at all.
Try it next time - gives it a depth of flavour that's not livery at all.
Also use bacon and sometimes Italian sausage if I can get it.

Angrybastard

Absolutely not. No room for liver in bolognese. I have a friend from Sicily and she goes crazy when people try to embellish what are meant to be simple sauces.

the beer revolu

Angrybastard wrote: »

Absolutely not. No room for liver in bolognese. I have a friend from Sicily and she goes crazy when people try to embellish what are meant to be simple sauces.

Bolognese is not a simple sauce - it is a complex sauce made from several meats and veg. I'm not going to argue about whether liver should be in an 'authentic' Bolognese or not but t does taste great.

Also someone being Italian (or Sicilian) doesn't automatically make them a good cook.

Cadiz

the beer revolu wrote: »

I use chicken livers in Bolognese (although maybe not 3oz to 6oz mince).
Tastes great - and I don't really like liver at all.
Try it next time - gives it a depth of flavour that's not livery at all.
Also use bacon and sometimes Italian sausage if I can get it.

Ok, I can try to be more openminded next time, but if it tastes of liver I'll come and find you Beerrevolu!!

Angry I thought the chicken livers were a typical Italian thing..

Miaireland

Cadiz wrote: »

Cooking a lasagna tomorrow.

Delia's recipe for the ragu calls for chicken livers (3oz, chopped small) along with the mince (and streaky bacon).

Could I leave out the chicken livers? Have bad childhood memories of liver. Or would it taste much better with them in??

I have made this recipe and I loved it with the chicken liver in it. However I love Chicken Livers and would have them on their own in salads.

Do you like pate?

I hate other kinds of liver. Like you I have bad childhood memories.

Irishrossoblu

the beer revolu wrote: »

Bolognese is not a simple sauce - it is a complex sauce made from several meats and veg. I'm not going to argue about whether liver should be in an 'authentic' Bolognese or not but t does taste great.

Also someone being Italian (or Sicilian) doesn't automatically make them a good cook.

True. Especially a Sicilian commenting on a Bolognese dish. I lived in Bologna for 3 years and did a fair bit of cooking but i never heard of chicken livers being used. Lard, yes. Mix of pork and beef, yes. However if you like it, I say do it.

the beer revolu

This thread got me in a Bolognese frame of mind.

Today bought:

1kg mince beef
200g Smoked streaky bacon
200g Chicken Liver
200g Hot Italian sausage (probably should be sweet Italian but..)

Some onions, carrots, celery, garlic
Tins of tomatoes

Tomorrow is going to be Spag Bol !!!:D

Cadiz

^ Noiiice. Perfect winter food.

The Sweeper

The chicken livers in Delia's lasagne al forno recipe add a richness and depth to it, but I would agree there's a little too much liver.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/italian/pasta/lasagne-al-forno.html

The flip side is that it's difficult to buy chicken livers in small quantities, so you end up buying, say, a 200g packet and only needing 85g of liver. If this happens, resist the urge to chuck in a bit extra because liver really does change the flavour of the dish!

That recipe is a reasonable amount of work - especially when you include preparing the livers etc and the cooking time, but it does make a remarkably good lasagne.

As for delia's cream sauce, instead of layering ragu, cream sauce, diced mozzarella and then lasagne, I like to alter the composition of the cream sauce by scrapping the cream and instead adding cheese to make more of a cheese sauce; then leaving out the mozzarella when I'm layering. I prefer my lasagne to have a stronger cheese flavour.

Has to say though, once you're done with it you'd seriously want to serve it in 2 inch cubed pieces - there's a hell of a lot of eating on one of those...

the beer revolu

The Sweeper wrote: »

That recipe is a reasonable amount of work - especially when you include preparing the livers etc and the cooking time, but it does make a remarkably good lasagne.

place chicken livers on a board, chop the bejasus out of them with a large knife!

Well, made the Bolognese last night with the ingredients listed above.

Oh, it's good!
No need for any tweaking with Worcestershire sauce/balsamic vinegar/marmite/sugar/herbs/soy sauce/stock cubes etc.

Not sure if I'd put the sausage in again - its good but putting it in does take away some control you have over the flavour (these one had quite a bit of fennel seed, slight hotness is good though).

Only other ingredients were - olive oil, salt & pepper, red wine, dry sherry, milk (would have used white wine but didn't have any open).

It's as good a Bolognese as I've:D ever made

Cadiz

[quote=
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/italian/pasta/lasagne-al-forno.html

As for delia's cream sauce, instead of layering ragu, cream sauce, diced mozzarella and then lasagne, I like to alter the composition of the cream sauce by scrapping the cream and instead adding cheese to make more of a cheese sauce; then leaving out the mozzarella when I'm layering. I prefer my lasagne to have a stronger cheese flavour.

[/quote]

Interesting that she adds Mozzarella there, in her Complete Cookery Course cookbook she leaves out the mozzarella, and I think it's the poorer for it.

I agree, I would prefer more of a cheese sauce.

The ragu itself though is gorgeously tasty though, the best I've ever had.

The Sweeper

the beer revolu wrote: »

place chicken livers on a board, chop the bejasus out of them with a large knife!

Nah - whenever I'm prepping kidneys or livers I always wash, dry, snip away tubes and wobbly bits, steep in milk if required, etc. etc. Takes away any bitterness (especially in kidneys). Finely chopping offal also makes a hell of a mess. Next time I think I might just use the blender...

the beer revolu

The Sweeper wrote: »

Nah - whenever I'm prepping kidneys or livers I always wash, dry, snip away tubes and wobbly bits, steep in milk if required, etc. etc. Takes away any bitterness (especially in kidneys). Finely chopping offal also makes a hell of a mess. Next time I think I might just use the blender...

just chopping worked for me.
There is so little liver compared to everything else, a few stray bits of wobbly bits don't matter - also chicken livers are very small. Slice, slice, slice, chop, chop, chop, into the pan. Wash the board and knife - no bother.
If I was making pâté, then I'd go to more trouble preparing them properly.