Comfort food…..

Our comfort foods often derive from childhood.  Mine certainly do, with a few more added. Chopped liver is an essential part of our Jewish Holiday celebrations but I rarely make it otherwise. However special situations call for special measures. This is taken from a blog I wrote a few years ago – with a recipe this time.

My mother died nearly forty years ago after a long and difficult illness.  She lived with us the last few years of her life and I greeted her death with very mixed emotions: sadness at our loss but relief that she was no longer in pain.

No matter how ill she was she always insisted on making the chopped liver for Passover and New Year and to break the Fast on the Day of Atonement.  There was no recipe, she made it as her mother had made it – and although I helped her I never consciously took much notice. Even when we all knew that her life was limited I didn’t take notice – perhaps it was my form of denial. 

There are strange moments when grief strikes you unexpectedly.  The first Jewish holiday after her death was Passover. There is no thought that has to go into the menu planning– it is the same year after year and of course there is chopped liver. I suddenly realised that this now fell to me to make - would I be able to take over this minor task but somehow central role that my mother had played over many years? It is part of handing down traditions through the generations. I sat down and wept. 

Of course it isn’t difficult, especially with modern kitchen gadgets to do the chopping.  It is chicken or goose fat, chicken livers, onions and hard-boiled eggs.  Then decorated with more chopped hard boiled eggs, whites and yolks separated and put in stripes and garnished with parsley.

There is still no fixed recipe but I will have a go having just made some:

2 – 3 tablespoons of chicken fat or vegetable oil 

about 600 grams of chicken livers

3 medium sized onions

3 eggs 

salt and pepper

Chop the onions coarsely and fry in the fat until translucent. Turn up and heat and sear the chicken livers and then reduce the heat and let them cook until done. It is important that they lose all pinkness.

While they are cooling hard-boil the eggs, cool and peel

Put all into a food processor and pulse until there are no big lumps left but the mixture is quite coarse.  Taste and add seasoning.  

The photo below (Number One Daughter’s contribution to a communal Seder in different times) is of our traditional decoration.  Not today!