Liver in sherry vinegar (Lebanese style)

---

Just before the vinegar is added. Note the huge cinnamon stick!

The inspiration for this recipe come from a translation of a 1960's Lebanese cook-book I picked up somewhere. I have always found vinegar a good accompaniment for liver. The original recipe just stated vinegar, but I have changed this to sherry vinegar because I love it so much.

Ingredients

• 450 g liver (lamb or veal preferred)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 red bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced into strips
• 3 fresh hot chili peppers, chopped into thin rings and de-seeded if you wish
• 2.5 cm cinnamon stick, left whole, remove at end of cooking
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped finely
• 5 fat cloves of Garlic, peeled and crushed mixed with ½ teaspoon dried mint
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 50 ml sherry vinegar
• 50g ghee, butter or olive oil

Method

1. Wash and clean the liver and cut into pieces, about the size of the head of a pigeon. Leave in a colander for 1 hour to drain excess liquid (if you have the time). Toss in the flour to coat
2. Melt the ghee in a pan and fry the red pepper and onions until they start to brown, then add the garlic and mint. Just before the garlic starts to colour, tip in the liver.
3. Add the cinnamon stick and cook the liver for 10 minutes, turning often.
4. Add the salt, chillies and vinegar, deglaze the pan, stir well and allow to reduce by 1 third

Serving suggestions

Serve immediately.

Chef's note

The recipe originally had 100 ml of vinegar but I found that too much for my taste so reduced it to 50ml.

variations

Use red wine instead of vinegar.