Orthodox Easter was celebrated this past weekend: a day of appetizers and mezedes culminating with the main course – lamb.

Many households also will prepare a meat dish called Kokoretsi, consisting of marinated lamb offal, wrapped in caul fat and and meters of cleaned intestine. It’s slow roasted over charcoal, sliced and served with a sprinkle of salt, dried Greek oregano and a good squeeze of lemon.

I love Kokoretsi but not all Greeks share my appreciation of it and some of those that do enjoy eating it, may not have the means to cook it. One needs a rotisserie with a charcoal pit.

This dish is offal good – grilled liver with pickled onions. You can use lamb, pork or beef/veal liver. The liver gets a quick marinade in olive oil, salt and dried Greek oregano then it gets quickly grilled over high heat.

After resting, the thinly slice the liver, pile on a plate, drizzle more olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper and serve with some pickled onion. I like this meze with some fries on the side, some crusty bread and wash it down with a cold beer or retsina.

Grilled Liver

Recipe by Peer MinakiCourse: AppetizersDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

5

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 liver (pork, lamb, veal or beef)

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil

• Sea salt

• 1 tsp. dried Greek oregano

• Pickled Onions

• 1 medium red onion

• 1/2 tsp. sugar

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 3/4 cup red wine vinegar

• 1 Tbsp. whole peppercorns

Directions

• Pat-dry your live and cut into 4-5 slices and place in a bowl along with olive oil, salt and oregano. Toss and allow to marinate for 30 minutes.
• For the pickled onions, place the vinegar, salt and sugar in a pot and bring up to a boil. Meanwhile place sliced onions in a medium jar. Once pickling liquid comes to a boil, take off the heat and pour into jar with onions. Allow to cool completely.
• Pre-heat your grill to high. Brush and clean the grill surface. Apply oil on the grill surface or use cooking spray to lubricate your grill surface (don’t be afraid of the flare-ups).
• Place your pieces of liver on the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes a side. Take the liver off the grill and transfer to a plate. Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing.
• Cut your liver into slices and pile up on a plate. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. More Greek oregano if you like.
• Serve with pickled red onions and some fries on the side.

Notes

• When grilling or sauteing liver, you want to cook to medium. The texture will be soft, moist, easy to chew and there will not be a strong iron taste.
• Don’t have a grill, use a cast iron pan or a grill pan on your stove top.