A Warm Chicken Liver Salad.

I do not know if it is the fashion right now or the fact that it is summer and we have had only winter weather for most of it, but every menu I look at has a warm salad on it. Now one of my favourite ones is a chicken liver salad and I like to make my salad in a set way, whereas most of the time you get the hot things on top and the salad at the bottom I like the whole thing mixed together. Now to do this you need the right sort of lettuce.  You need something robust that will take the heat of the cooked livers like frisée , chard , baby leaf spinach or  watercress .Whatever leaf you use  you need a mix of flavour and robustness to give the salad what it need to be a really good salad.

For my salad you will need

4 thick slices white bread
3tbsp olive oil
Fresh thyme
450g/1lb fresh chicken livers
3 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
100g/4oz mixed salad leaves
1tsp white wine vinegar
1tsp Dijon mustard
1tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp walnut oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh chives 

First you have to make your croutons now to do this you coukld just fry them in a pan but I like to do my croutons in the oven. Take the bread , cut off the crusts and then cut it in to cubes.  Now in a bowl drizzle over the olive oil add the chopped thyme and season with salt and pepper. Now toss everything together so it gets a good covering of oil and seasoning and then pop them in to an oven and just let them crisp. Take them out and turn them every now and then , until you have very crisp croutons, full of flavour.

Now you have made them all you have to do is make your salad. In a large bowl add the white wine vinegar,  Dijon mustard, sunflower oil and walnut oil. Now this is not the normal amount of oil for a dressing but you will have all the juices from the liver and bacon to add to the mix so do not worry.

Take the streaky bacon and slice as then as you can, then take the chicken livers and remove any sinew from them and cut them in half. Now in a frying pan start to dry fry the soaked bacon until it is nice and crispy. Then add the chicken livers, season with salt and a little pepper , then fry for 1-2 minutes on both sides, or until the livers are golden-brown all over but still slightly pink in the middle. Now tip the contents of the frying pan in to the bowl with the dressing and toss everything together.

Now take your salad leaves and lightly ever so quickly toss the salad leaved in the livers. Then arrange the salad in a bowl. Sprinkle over some of the crouton and chopped chives and then eat as soon as possible. This salad must be eaten as soon as it is made to get the full effect of the cool crunch of the salad, the heat of the livers and the combining flavours for the dressing and bacon.

A perfect salad for this summer.