Fried Chicken Liver Salad with Bacon and Ranch Dressing

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This carnivore’s salad is filled with bold ingredients like bacon, dandelion greens, celery leaves and pickled onion, but the star ingredient are the chicken livers.

Serves 6

Ingredients:
For the Pickled Red Onion:
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons sugar

For the Ranch Dressing:
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 1/4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon snipped chives
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the Salad:
6 slices of thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon
3 cups self-rising flour
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
2 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound chicken livers, trimmed and rinsed
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
Vegetable oil, for frying
3/4 pound heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup whole flat-leaf parsley leaves
4 tender celery ribs, thinly sliced on the bias, leaves reserved
1 small bunch dandelions greens

Directions:
Put the sliced red onion in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the red wine vinegar with the sugar over moderately high heat until just beginning to simmer and the sugar is dissolved. Pour the hot vinegar over the sliced red onion and let stand for 30 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 teaspoons of the onion pickling liquid.

In a medium bowl, whisk all of the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

In a large skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat until crisp, about 10 minutes; drain on paper towels. Cut each piece of bacon in half.

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the garlic powder, cayenne, onion powder, smoked paprika, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

In a medium bowl, soak the chicken livers in 1 cup of the buttermilk for 10 minutes, then drain. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk to the bowl. Dredge the chicken livers in the seasoned flour until coated, then re-dip the chicken livers in the buttermilk and dredge again in the flour to double-coat.

In a large, deep skillet, heat 1/2 inch of vegetable oil to 325°F.  Fry the livers until golden, about 2 minutes per side. Drain the chicken livers on paper towels and immediately season with salt.

In a bowl, toss the tomatoes, parsley and celery ribs and leaves. Add the pickled onion and the reserved 1 1/2 teaspoons of pickling liquid. Place the greens on a serving plate. Spoon the ranch dressing onto of the greens. Top with the tomato salad, chicken livers and bacon and serve at once.

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Crab and Avocado Salad

Avocados filled with crab salad

Photo Credit: Layla Pujol, Laylita’s Recipes ,www. laylitas.com, 2015

With Summer approaching, no one wants to stand in a hot kitchen over a stove. With that being said, here is a salad that requires a sharp knife, a large bowl , serving plates and a fork. Not only is this salad healthy for you and gluten-free, but it is refreshing as well. You can use any type of fresh crab meat. I prefer Dungeness crab meat, and you can easily substitute the crab for cooked peeled shrimp as well.

The basic ingredients for this classic dish from Ecuador is  prepared by filling ripe avocados with a a crab salad, red onion, bell pepper, cucumber, radishes, lime juice, olive oil, and cilantro.

Enjoy!

Courtesy of Layla Pujol of  Laylita’s Recipes, 2015

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 pound of cooked crab meat
½ red onion, finely chopped
½ red bell pepper, finely diced
½ green bell pepper, finely diced
½ cucumber, finely diced
4 radishes, finely diced
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4-5 ripe but firm avocados
½ lime

To garnish:
Iceberg Lettuce or salad greens
Fresh cilantro leaves
Sliced scallions
Sliced radishes

Directions:
To prepare the crab salad:
Mix the cooked crab meat with diced onions, diced bell peppers, diced cucumbers, diced radish, lime juice, olive oil, chopped cilantro, and salt and pepper. The salad can be prepared in advance and kept refrigerated until just ready to assemble the avocados.

Cut the avocados in half, remove the seeds and peel the avocados. Sprinkle each avocado half with a little lime juice to prevent the avocados from browning too quickly.

Fill the center of the avocados halves with the crab salad. Serve the crab stuffed avocados over lettuce leaves and garnished with scallions and radishes.