Poultry Livers with Prunes, Angel’s Pub Style

There is a reason for this post. More than one, in fact. First, Jacek is now as old as I am, which is how this post came about at all. Second, I went to a truly fantastic place that I promised to write about. And third, Stu was there with us, and it was he who ordered these delicious livers with prunes there.

But first things first. Jacek went off to celebrate his birthday in splendid isolation in Ustroń. The Ustroń in the mountains, in the Polish Beskids. We decided to interrupt this solitary celebration and headed to that very Ustroń rather spontaneously. To celebrate with him, of course. Because, as is as clear as Romanian crystal, we are the ideal support team. Support with eating and drinking, obviously. And what should you do on a friend’s birthday? Celebrate: read, eat and drink.

I think there should be dancing too, but my friends do not share that view. Just an aside. Another aside: dancing saved me too, but that is another story.

However, when you head off to a friend’s birthday spontaneously, meaning without planning it beforehand, you need to find somewhere to hold the celebration. And if you have ever been, you probably know that Ustroń has plenty of establishments that rob tourists blind with their bandit-style potato pancakes and other “highlander” delicacies. We were not entirely on board with that robbery. If we are going to be robbed, we might as well enjoy it. So, no false modesty here: I must admit that Angel’s Pub was my discovery.

No, I did not know Angel’s Pub in Ustroń before. I had never been there and nobody told me to go. I found it online, with rather good reviews too. So, before you read any further, because you need not: I recommend it. I recommend Angel’s Pub wholeheartedly. Or, more precisely, Angel’s Steak & Pub, and I will get to those steaks in a moment.

I will just add that Stu took a little hit over this pub at the hotel, where the receptionist pointed him towards the very same place when asked for a recommendation. Admittedly, that only confirmed my discovery, but Stu was slightly stung because, looking him up and down, the lady said, “And please don’t worry, you can eat something cheap there too, such as the livers with prunes.” Hehehe. Poor fellow 🙂 He took the hit, but it was good for this post, because he now felt obliged to order those livers.

Back to our angel. I will not go on about the decor. If you like pubs, you will like it; if not, just focus on the food. The food and the waiter. I have no idea how many waiters or waitresses work there, but the gentleman who served us was world-class. Honestly, I have not seen such a display of eloquence, knowledge of the menu and skill in advising customers in a very, very, very long time. Magda Gessler would have dropped dead. With delight, of course. Warm greetings to you, sir, and to the entire Angel’s team.

Because alongside the excellent service, the cooking is, of course, very, very good. Apart from getting drunk on copious amounts of wine, we ordered gravlax (raw, cured salmon), livers with Californian prunes (yes, those very livers)—Stu’s order, naturally—an Angel’s burger (the birthday boy was very hungry and craving Belgian fries), lightly smoked BBQ ribs and a steak. A very classic rib-eye with green asparagus. A 4 on a 1 – 10 scale of doneness. So more or less medium rare. The meat for the steaks is, of course, aged on the premises.

And here is what I will say: the ribs were the only thing I did not try, because I did not get there in time and I had not ordered them 🙂 Everything else was flavour magic. The gravlax starter was beautifully sliced, superbly presented and balanced. Not mind-blowing, but very good. The steak was simply very good too. What really stood out, though, was our friend’s poultry liver. Luckily he let us taste it, and that is where this recipe comes from. It completely won me over and, you know what, it reminded me of one of my little daughter Ninka’s favourite films: Ratatouille. You probably know that fantastic animated film in which a return to childhood utterly disarms the greatest food critic in Paris. All thanks to ratatouille, a seemingly very simple dish. The livers in wine sauce did not take me back to my own younger days, admittedly, but the association came from the way some fairly simple offal, usually associated with Polish milk bars, had been elevated into a brilliant starter. Very distinctive, wonderfully creamy and, strange as that may sound for offal, fairly light in flavour, yet filling. Those livers tasted like a dessert, not a starter. They were brilliant.

That is why, just two days later, I decided to try to recreate them. Of course I do not know the original recipe; I would not even dare ask the maestro—sorry, chef—who runs the kitchen at Angel’s Pub Ustroń. But I thought I might give it a go and perhaps something would come of it. I asked my dad to buy poultry livers and prunes (I had stopped at my parents’ for the weekend on the way back from Ustroń). No need to ask for the other ingredients: there is always plenty of wine at their place 🙂

And I think it worked. In other words, the livers certainly turned out very good. Delicate, soft, positively silky. In a very good, creamy and extraordinarily aromatic sauce. So I recommend them very highly, just as highly as a visit to Angel’s Pub in Ustroń. The Ustroń where I would never have expected such refined cooking, especially of the non-bandit variety.

PS

A warning to the pub, though: my parents are going to Ustroń for a spa treatment stay in September, so keep up the standards, because they will certainly report back to me, and I know they are planning to visit you 😉

Recipe details:

Preparation time: about an hour

Serves: 3 starter portions

Calories: heh, ask someone wiser than me

Ingredients for tender livers in a mushroom, prune and wine sauce:

• 550 grams poultry livers
• half a bottle of dry red wine (whichever you prefer)
• 2/3 of a small carton (200 ml) of 18% cream for soups and sauces
• 1/3 of a red onion (medium-sized)
• a handful of dried porcini mushrooms
• 150 grams Californian prunes
• olive oil
• a little wheat flour
• salt
• ground black pepper
• sweet paprika powder

Recipe for delicious livers in wine sauce, Angel’s Pub style:

The recipe is not complicated, but it takes a little time. I started by washing the livers and removing the veins, tough bits and membranes. I dried the prepared livers with kitchen paper and seasoned them lightly with salt, black pepper and sweet paprika powder (just a little), then dusted them lightly with flour. I mixed the livers thoroughly and fried them in a pan (in olive oil). I fried them for just 8 – 10 minutes, until lightly browned, then poured in red wine (roughly 100 ml of wine).

While the livers were frying, I finely chopped the onion, rinsed the Californian prunes and cut them into thin strips, then poured boiling water over the dried porcini and left them for a few minutes. I then drained the mushrooms.

While the livers were cooking in the wine, I did not wait for it to evaporate completely, but transferred them to a bowl. I poured the fat and wine from their frying pan into a deep saucepan. I set the frying pan aside without washing it. In the saucepan, I heated the cooking juices from the livers and added the onion, Californian prunes and porcini I had prepared earlier. Once they started bubbling, I added a little water and the rest of the wine. The prune, mushroom and onion liquid should simmer gently for roughly 40 – 50 minutes. During cooking, I added only a little black pepper. No other seasoning.

As the prune and mushroom liquid for the sauce finished cooking, I added a little olive oil to the frying pan (the unwashed one), heated it and put in the livers that had been waiting their turn. I fried them for just a moment, then added the liquid from my saucepan through a sieve. I let the mushrooms and prunes left in the sieve drain some more, then returned them to the saucepan. I now had livers simmering in the liquid for my sauce in the frying pan.

I put the 18% cream into a small bowl and tempered it (meaning I added 4 – 5 tablespoons of sauce from the frying pan and mixed thoroughly). I poured the tempered cream into the frying pan and mixed it in well. I cooked everything over a very low heat for a few more minutes, then added a few spoonfuls of the mushroom and prune pulp (left after straining the liquid). I stirred and cooked for another few minutes. And voilà. Done. My livers in wine sauce with mushrooms and Californian prunes were ready. I served them as a starter with bread (fresh, good-quality bread, preferably rye). They went down well. Enjoy 🙂

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