Well, February escaped me so I am grabbing March by the horns here. As always, hats off to the talented Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting this excellent series. Stop by her blog for links to kitchens all over the world.
March is the most important month of the year because I was born in it; I am ready to enjoy all 31 days.
And with me in my kitchen this month you will find…
Liver!
Sorry, I know it isn’t the prettiest food (but I did refrain from a raw shot) but I am very happy to have this liver for two important reasons. One is that these are livers from our own chickens. I hate to admit it, but when we first started to eat our own birds we sort of got through cleaning them out as fast as we could and as long as we got the guts out with no poop explosions we were ready to call it a day. But the chorus of voices chanting about liver’s awesome nutritional profile, nature’s most potent super food, better than a vitamin pill, kept going round and round in my head and we decided to take things a little slower and pay more attention to all that stuff we were pulling out. The birds we were culling were young roosters (too many roosters in the coop) and they had beautiful, dark red livers. I “breaded” them in almond flour with a bit of coconut mixed in (almond flour just clumps like heck on its own, I discovered) with some paprika, oregano and garlic powder thrown in.
This is the second reason I am so pleased:
I was one of those kids who loved liver, so I am delighted that Kaya likes it too. Baki is another story, but you can’t have everything.
Also in my kitchen this month are my two new best friends, ghee and coconut oil (which was shy, so only ghee in the picture)
It is fairly easy to find good butter here, so I make it into ghee at home – a very hands off process in my kitchen. I just set it on a low stove until the solids turn light brown (30 to 40 minutes) and strain it through a fine sieve. I find it really nice to cook with. It has a fairly high smoke point (485°F /252°C), doesn’t need to be refrigerated, and it’s not very expensive. Coconut oil, on the other hand, costs a small fortune here, more than twice as much as single estate cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. I brought a lot back from Thailand, though, and I don’t use it as much in cooking.
Two of my favorite things to do with coconut oil are oil pulling and bulletproof coffee.
Oil pulling, like many good ideas, is not new at all. It’s an Ayurvedic practice and basically involves taking a tablespoon of oil in your mouth (I use coconut oil, but sesame oil is traditional) first thing in the morning and swishing it around for ten minutes. Then you spit it out, rinse your mouth and give your teeth a brush. Why do this, even though it feels really weird to have a mouth full of oil and 10 minutes feels like forever? It makes my mouth feel really clean and fresh. There are lots of claims about what oil pulling can do, but for me it is just a nice clean feeling that I am after. There are loads of articles online about it, of course.
Bulletproof coffee is the marriage of ghee, coconut oil and coffee. You just put a tablespoon of each in your black coffee and blend it – in a blender, or using an immersion blender. It makes a creamy and insanely good drink that tastes better than any sugary or milky coffee drink I have ever had. And I am a black coffee drinker, but this just makes me happy every morning. There are some health claims attached to this too, but I’m in it for shallow reasons. As with oil pulling, I’m just thinking with my mouth here.
And last of all, I have a little egg update for you:
Did you spot the difference? Our Ameraucana hens are laying, and we now have their beautiful blue eggs in the nesting boxes every day. Tell me you wouldn’t want a room the color of that egg…
Garden Correspondent 
Your coated chicken livers look absolutely gorgeous and I can see your dog hoping longingly for a taste there too! I haven’t heard of oil pulling and it has kind of turned my head upside down for a moment and I will go and have a read about it as it sounds very interesting indeed. Lovely to have a peek in your kitchen!
Lulu loves liver, too and she was rewarded for her patience! Oil pulling does sounds a little off the wall – I knew about it for a while before I tried it. Thanks for stopping by!
I always look forward to the first of the month to see what is in everyone’s kitchen. I love your beautiful eggs. Have a happy birthday this month. 🙂
Can you share the proportions for the coating on your liver? I would love to try this! Thanks. 🙂
Depending on how much liver I’ve got, I change the amounts but I use 2 parts almond flour to one part coconut. For example: 1 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup coconut, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon oregano.
Trim the liver and cut it up and put it in a bowl then pour a beaten egg over it. Dredge the eggy liver slices one by one in your coating and fry those babies up!
Siobhan! Breaded liver! Oil pulling! Bulletproof coffee! I’ve learnt so much reading this post, thank you! The coffee sounds particularly intriguing. I LOVE liver, but I can’t get my family within a bulls’ roar of it, unless it’s made into pate. Beautiful eggs! 🙂
Well, that means more liver for you, I guess! (You know, I’ve never made liver pate – I ought to try that out…) Do give the coffee a try – it’s almost crazy how good it is.
I am still contemplating the oil pulling. Ten minutes of swishing oil around, first.
I’m going to look this up to see the benefits, but I’m interested.
Your eggs are beautiful- and actually so is the liver. Love the picture of your daughter eating it! 🙂
I’m glad you liked the looks of the liver — I wasn’t sure about posting that photo!
(Kaya is a boy, actually, but that just goes to show that all pretty children are not girls:))
If you try the oil pulling, I hope you’ll let me know what you thought…
Hi Siobhan, yum livers!
I’m not brave enough yet to dispatch our own birds….yet. Beautiful eggs, there really is nothing better than collecting breakfast of a morning is there?
cheers
Jason
It has been a learning curve for us, but I have really gotten a lot out of it (not just meat and livers!). I do love collecting our own eggs, and we’ve been getting loads of lovely manure out of the coops as well. Add to that the daily bug patrol, and the chickens really are earning their keep.
Bring on the chicken livers! When I worked at the bar, there was a small restaurant on my way home. While most would stop there for a hamburger, I placed an order for deep fried chicken livers. I suppose the frying negated a few of the health benefits but I wasn’t eating them for my health. They were just plain tasty! Love the pale blue Ameraucana eggs. I often find a couple intermixed within the dozen I buy at the farmers market. Always a nice surprise.
The best thing about eating deep fried food out is not having to make it yourself, am I right? I go out for fried fish because I can’t bear to make it at home.
Hi Siobhan, I love your blue egg, it is so pretty. I have never made ghee, I am lazy and buy it but maybe I will take your advice and make my own.
If I’m honest, I would probably have bought it if I could but it really is very easy, so that turned out well for me!
I cannot eat straight liver but I adore it in pate. I join your love of ghee and coconut oil. Thankfully coconut oil is readily available, so I use it for frying and smoothies. The oil pulling sounds intriguing but I don’t think I could last 10 minutes.
10 minutes does feel long. I try to use it as an object lesson — I do as much kitchen work as I can in that time to show myself how little time it actually takes.
I love chicken livers and have always enjoyed them a number of ways including a pasta I make. Others in the family are not so keen. I love how you spared us a raw image! I love your eggs and yes, you can paint my house that colour blue xx
G’day Siobhan ! While I am not a fan of chicken livers, your photo made me want to try!
LOVE ghee and coconut oil too!
Cheers! Joanne
This was actually my first experience with chicken livers, although I have eaten other liver before. They’re good! Just a bit fiddly for being so small…
Your chicken livers look interesting – normally I just use them in a bolognese sauce or to make a pate but these look much more fun. Just given the oil pulling a go but couldn’t last 10 minutes, ended up with a mouthful of saliva and then got a tickle in my throat and spluttered oil across my computer! Maybe I should try the bulletproof coffee instead.
Whoah. Sorry about the oil pulling! Coffee definitely goes down easier!
Yes, lovely blue mauve eggs are my favourite too.
That blue egg is beautiful…and so is a child eating liver!
Yes, I can’t decide which sight pleases me more.
I would love a room the color of that egg! Maybe I am overdue to repaint my apartment…
As for the oil-pulling, I have heard about it, but I don’t know if I could swish anything around in my mouth for 10 minutes. I wonder if the same results would happen if you swished water?
But that bulletproof coffee. I am also a black coffee drinker and that is something I could get onboard of.
Oh it’s very good and feels like something substantial and decadent at the same time. So, win-win.
And Happy Belated Birthday!!!!!!