Chicken Liver Ragout

If you like chicken livers, this is a relatively quick, easy, economical and tasty recipe. I use hot paprika, and my experience is that most "hot" paprika is not overwhelmingly hot, but if you don't have hot paprika, just use sweet paprika, and then you can add 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper (cayenne). Trust me, this will not make the heat mouth-numbing. The rather large amount of paprika gives the dish a nice reddish color. It's best to cover the skillet with a lid or foil, as it helps to cook everything through more quickly, and your stove won't have dots of red liquid spattered all over it, making it look like it just came down with a case of the measles. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes and a salad.

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/4 pound chicken livers, cut so there are no really large pieces
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large carrot, grated or shredded
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 mild green pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 heaping tablespoon tomato ketchup
2 heaping tablespoons hot paprika (I use smoked Spanish paprika, but use what you have) 
3 tablespoon flour
2/3 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups chicken broth
1 pinch salt (optional, remember, the chicken broth likely has salt)

In a skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat, then add the onion, carrot, celery, green pepper and garlic. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, for about 6 minutes, then add the ketchup and paprika, stir well to mix in. Sprinkle the chicken livers with flour, then add the livers (and any loose flour) to the skillet. Sprinkle in the pinch of salt and the black pepper. Gradually add about 2/3 of the broth, stirring constantly as you add it. Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet and cook the ragout 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now add in the rest of the broth, stirring to mix everything together. Cook a further 5 minutes.

WORD HISTORY:
Lark-The origin of this word for a specifically classified family of songbirds is unknown. It is well established in the Germanic languages, with the possibility of a tie to Celtic, but that tie has not been firmly established. The scientific name for the lark family of birds is from Latin, "Alaudidae," with Latin forms commonly used for such classifications, but the "alauda" part of the word is a borrowing by Latin from Gaulish, the Celtic language of the Gauls of ancient western Europe. "Alauda," passed into some Latin offspring, and it is the only possibly known connection to "lark" outside of the Germanic languages. Old Germanic had "laiwarikon," which meant "lark." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "lawerce," which then became "lauerche," then "lerke/larke," before the modern form. The noun form meaning, "fun, merriment," and the verb "lark," meaning "to have fun, to frolic," may not be tied to "lark," the bird, so I will not include them here. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Lerche," Low German "Lewark," Dutch "leeuwerik," I found a couple of forms in Frisian, and also some other forms, but whether any is an "official" form, I don't know. The two that stand out: "liurk, ljurk," Danish "lærken" (often as "sanglærke"), Norwegian "lerke," Swedish "lärka," Icelandic "lævirki." (Just a note: In the 1960s a new brand of cigarette was introduced called "Lark." The reason I remember it is, the advertisement for it featured Gioachino Rossini's "The William Tell Overture," with words to promote the cigarette brand. The song was well known as the theme for "The Lone Ranger.")