Liver on Grits with Ginger-Onion Confit and Greens

I spent the long weekend camping and harvesting wild rice, at a very slow pace because I am new to the activity, with many a mishap along the way! (Beginning the first day when my friend and I decided to rice at a closer lake than our ricing companions were at, so we ventured out without their tutelage, and push poled from the stern of the boat, rather than the bow. Which is a less stable and much more awkward way to go! 😂) To be on a lake, poling through thick rice, is like nothing I have done before. I'll save my musings for a future rice post, but suffice to say I am sore and grateful to have spent the weekend outside surrounded by beauty as the weather turned cool overnight. My car died on the way home yesterday, making the day quite long. I had enough time to drape the wet tent inside (it was raining out), eat some eggs, and get into bed by 9pm. So tonight when I finished work early, I decided to have wine and make a fancy dinner. Which feels quite perfect on this cool day, where fall seems around the corner, if not here already.

My dinner is based on a recipe from Culture Eatz that I've had saved for awhile. It is originally for polenta, which is so much like grits that I honestly don't really know the difference. I also made some cooked greens to add to the dish, and bacon. Which made this already somewhat indulgent dish even more so!! It was aces. Creamy grits, liver, fancy confit, greens AND bacon?! I mean, what is not to like here. So if you have a little time (at least an hour), settle in and make this dinner. 

I followed the recipe below very closely except for making this grits recipe (where I used butter and some cream, but no cheese or wine), and I only had red wine for the confit, which makes it look kind of weird. Next time I would maybe just use a little apple cider vinegar instead to keep the pale color - the ginger was so nice in there! I also didn't want to use sugar in the confit, so I used a chopped up a date or two instead and added them with the wine. Finally, I did not dredge my liver in flour, and instead just fried it in butter. (I also converted her recipe to American measurements, except for the polenta items, which are in blue.)

I did bake some bacon in the oven to crumble on top, and I made a side of greens where I sauteed some onions in coconut oil, added some garlic once the onions were soft, and then a bunch of chopped kale. I sprinkled water in the pan, put a lid on it to steam the greens, and cooked until the greens were soft. I seasoned with smoky salt. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb lamb (or calf) liver (I used chicken b/c that is what I had)
  
• 1 large onion
• 1.25 inch fresh ginger
• 1/2 c white wine (I only had red)
  
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 clove garlic
• 250 ml milk
• 100 g polenta (corn meal)
• 25 g parmesan
• 1 rhubarb stalk (or 30 sour cherries, 30 cranberries or a tart apple)
• 4 sprigs sage
• flour* opt
  
• sugar* opt
  
• pepper
• salt
• oil
• butter

Instructions:

For the ginger-onion confit: Peel the onion and ginger. Cut into thin matchsticks. In a small pot put the onions and ginger with 2 tbsp water and a pinch of salt. Cook covered over a low heat until soft for about 30 minutes. You do not want it to brown. Add 100 ml of white wine, bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer for 30 minutes uncovered, stirring regularly, or until almost all the liquid as evaporated. Season confit with a good pinch of salt and 2 tbsp of sugar. Mix well and set aside. Note: you can move on to the other components of this recipe when you start your 2nd simmer.

For the crispy sage: Pick 14 nice leaves from the sprigs. Heat a bit of oil in a pan, once the oil is hot fry the leaves until completely crispy but not too browned. They are ready when the leave have gone all dark green. Drain on paper towels and set aside. 

For the liver: Cut the liver into thin slices and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of butter in the same pan you fried the sage in. Drench the liver slices in flour and roast in the pan until cooked put still pink inside. Place the liver on an oven-safe plate and keep warm in the oven set at 160 F.

For the tart fruit: Cut rhubarb into slices and add it very shortly to the pan where the liver was roasted in. You just want to soften a bit, no more. Season with a pinch sugar, remove from the heat and set aside.

For the polenta: Place the crushed garlic and thyme in a cheesecloth and tie with string or a rubber band, cut of extra material. Bring 250 ml water, 250 ml milk, the remaining 50 ml white wine, the garlic and thyme package, and a large pinch of salt to a boil. Lower heat to low and discard the cheesecloth package. While stirring constantly and vigorously, add the polenta to the pot and cook until thickened. If the polenta is thick add more milk, you want a silky and malleable polenta. Add 1 tbsp butter and the grated parmesan and mix. Season with salt to taste. *Or make grits instead, which I find easier.

Assemble: Ladle polenta into two bowls (on top of greens, if using) and top with liver slices. Spoon onion confit on the liver, garnish with rhubarb and crispy sage (and bacon if using). Serve immediately while still warm.