Chicken Livers and Spaghetti

I've finally started to feel better this weekend and have felt like cooking for the first time in more than five weeks. Last night Gary came round to help me with a hair emergency and I made a quick but hearty pasta dish. Even if you've never liked liver this is worth a try as this is nothing like the tough and bitter liver of your childhood, even my liver-phobic ex loved this. We had this on it's own but it would be lovely with a strong-tasting green salad like rocket or watercress. These quantities served two, but with enough pasta and a salad it could serve three or four.

1. I packet of chicken livers- my packet was 0.45 kilograms
2. 2 red onions
3. 4 rashers of streaky bacon
4. Cream-I used double because I wanted it for the pudding but you can do as you wish.
5. 2 tablespoons of brandy, vodka, dry sherry or some other alcohol.
6. Salt and pepper.

Cut the bacon into small pieces- it's easiest with kitchen scissors- and fry in butter or olive oil until they start to darken in colour but before they crisp up.

Add the chopped red onions and continue to cook on a low heat until the bacon is crisp and the onions soft.

Add the livers and turn the heat up to a moderate to high heat. I don't really like handling them so I bung them in and once they start cooking I cut them into smaller pieces with kitchen scissors. Keep the mixture moving so it doesn't burn and cook for the minimum amount of time to brown the livers and cook them to your taste. They don't need to be cooked right through and I often leave them pink, but if I have friends round I cook them til the pink is JUST gone. This only takes a few minutes and you need to be really careful as over-cooked liver is tough and only good for the bin.

Add the brandy- make sure the heat is high enough to burn off the alcohol and turn it into a sauce.

Add the cream. I used two tablespoons but if you are feeding more people than I was then upping the cream will make the sauce go further.

Season with a generous amount of freshly-ground black pepper and sea-salt. You can garnish with a chopped herb of your choice, I didn't but it was raining and I didn't want to go into the garden!

I served this sauce with wholewheat pasta because it was what I had and the robust flavours worked surprisingly well together but I must admit that I've eaten this- without the cream-on french bread.
Serve with a strong red wine