We rarely eat meat and animal products these days, my body seems to work better on a near vegan diet, on the occasions that we do eat meat and diary I prefer to eat organic, free range products and know exactly where they have come from.    Consequently I was somewhat taken aback by an odd craving that took me a while to identify as being for chicken livers.

Like much offal chicken livers are relatively cheap, full of flavour and vitamins and minerals, the bad news is that they are high in cholesterol, but I reckon that we had about 50g each of liver, and our diets are cholesterol free for the majority of the time.

I slowly cooked the livers in a tomato sauce with mushrooms, balsamic vinegar adds some depth and the knob of butter makes the sauce far smoother, it does need a long cook, after half an hour the flavours suddenly gel and work together   This is my submission for Ruth’s Presto Pasta Nights hosted this week by Graziana of Erbe in Cucina.

Pasta with Chicken Liver, Tomato & Mushroom Sauce (Serves 4)

2 small onions  – finely chopped
1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
8oz / 200g Chicken livers (please buy free range) – roughly chopped
4oz / 100g mushrooms (sliced)
1x 12oz  tin plum tomatos
1 Espresso cup white wine or white vermouth
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs fresh oregano  – roughly chopped
1/2 oz butter
Salt & pepper to taste

Finely chop the onions and fry in the olive oil with a pinch of salt until translucent and turning golden.   Add the garlic, chicken livers (I cut them into 1 – 2 cm pieces using scissors) and mushrooms, fry for several minutes.   Add all the other ingredients, stir and allow to simmer with the lid ajar for at least 40 minutes.

Serve with the pasta of your choice.

Notes: The longer this cooks the better it will be, next time I make it I am going to use passata rather than the tinned tomatos and cook it for several hours in the slow cooker.