Calf's liver and onion, Venice-style

Fegato alla veneziana

Venetian style calf's liver with onions Traditional Venetian recipe

Calf's liver with onions is a typical dish of Venetian cuisine. If you go to Venice or other towns in Veneto you should taste this dish that is generally served with polenta. The ingredients are: calf's liver, onions, butter, white wine, vegetable stock and olive oil. Here's the recipe!

Calves liver with onions, Italian recipes — Venetian-style calf's liver with onion

yeld for 4

600g (1.3 pounds) calf's liver, cut into thin slices
400g (14 ounces) onions, finely sliced
25g (1 ounce) unsalted butter
20ml (1tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) white wine
50ml (1 2/3 fluid ounce - 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) vegetable stock
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Time:
preparation: 10 minutes
cooking: 40 minutes
total: 50 minutes
Difficulty:
easy recipe
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 349 (kCal) 18 % GDA (*) - 1462 (kJ)
Protein: 30.9 (g) 62 % GDA
Total fat: 19.4 (g) 28 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 13.7 (g) 6 % GDA
Sugars: 13.7 (g) 16 % GDA

Calf's liver with onions recipe, Italian-style

Cook the onions.
Put the olive oil and onions in a non-stick frying pan.
Sautè the onions for some minutes on very low heat stirring frequently.
At this point add the wine and let it evaporate.
Then pour in the vegetable stock, season to taste with salt and continue cooking for 20-25 minutes on very low heat, half-covered, stirring now and then.

Cook the liver.
Remove the onions with a skimming ladle and put apart.
Place the liver slices in the pan.
Don't overlap them.
If you have too many slices for your pan cook them few at a time.
Liver must be cooked only for 5 minutes on both sides on high heat.
Season to taste with salt.

The last step.
Put the onions together with the liver slices in the pan and warm up for a couple of minutes.
Transfer liver and onions on the platter and melt the butter in the gravy.
Stir and pour on the liver slices.
The photo was taken before pouring the gravy on the liver slices to highlight how the onions should be.
Serve at once.

Note

- For the best result of your calf's liver dish with onions you must choose fresh liver and its slices must be very thin (3 to 4 mm)
- Here are some variations to the original recipe of Venetian-style calf's liver with onions.
The first. If you like parsley you can add a couple of tablespoons chopped parsley to the gravy as soon as you switch off the gas. Stir accurately and pour on the liver slices.
The second. If you like lemon juice you can cook the onions adding the juice of a lemon instead of the wine and decreasing the amount of stock. We generally use this variation and we like this recipe very much.
- Serve liver and onions on the top of very soft polenta. It's a fantastic one-plate meal. But you canl also serve liver and onions accompanied by mashed potatoes.

What's the right wine ?

Our suggestion is: Valpolicella (a red local wine)