Chicken Liver and Mushroom Toast

Ingredients

• olive oil
• lemon juice
• 410 g chicken liver
• 180 g plain flour, seasoned for coating
• 200 g mixed mushrooms, such as chestnut, shiitake, and oyster
• 1 clove, halved
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• sea salt
• 120 g butter, divided
• 1 tbsp tarragon, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• 1 ciabatta loaf
• 1 morcilla de burgos, sliced into 1cm rounds
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Split the ciabatta lengthways, rub the cut sides hard with the halved garlic clove — the rough toast acts like a grater — and drizzle generously with olive oil.
2. Get a griddle pan properly hot and toast the ciabatta cut-side down for about 2 minutes a side, until golden with clear bar-marks. Season lightly with sea salt and set aside.
3. Fry the morcilla slices in a dry pan over medium-high heat for around 2 minutes a side, until the edges are crisp and the centres yielding. Lay them over the toasted ciabatta and keep somewhere warm.
4. Pat the chicken livers dry on kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no browning — then season them generously with salt and pepper before dusting in the seasoned flour. Shake off the excess; a thin coat catches, a thick one goes claggy.
5. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the same pan until it just begins to shimmer. Cook the livers in two batches — don't crowd the pan, or they'll steam in their own juice instead of taking colour — for 1 minute each side, until deeply browned outside but still blushing within. Lift them out and rest on a warm plate.
6. Melt half the butter in the pan and add the mushrooms in a single layer over high heat. Leave them alone for the first 2 minutes so they catch and colour, then toss and cook another 2 minutes until golden at the edges and just tender. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Tip the mushrooms in with the livers and cover loosely with foil to keep warm.
8. Drop the remaining butter into the pan and cook the shallots gently for 5 minutes, scraping up the brown stuck bits from the livers as they soften — that fond is where the flavour lives. Cook just until the shallots are soft and translucent; if the garlic on the toast smells anywhere near burnt at any stage, you've gone too hot — bitter garlic ruins the whole plate, so watch it and keep the heat honest.
9. Return the livers and mushrooms to the pan, fold them through the buttery shallots, and warm everything together for 2 to 3 minutes.
10. Stir in the tarragon and parsley off the heat, then add a good squeeze of lemon juice — the acid cuts the iron-rich livers and lifts the butter. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust now, not at the table.
11. Pile the liver and mushroom mixture over the morcilla-topped ciabatta, scatter any herbs left in the pan over the top, finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a final squeeze of lemon, and serve straight away.