Devilled Chicken Livers

By Neil Buttery

You can devil pretty much anything: lamb’s kidneys, mushrooms, paneer, tofu, leftover roast chicken, beef or turkey on Boxing Day. The sauce keeps for two weeks in the fridge.

Serves 2 as a light lunch or snack, or three as a first course, or six as a savoury course.

For the devil sauce:

• 2 tbsp English mustard

• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce or mushroom ketchup, or a mixture of the two

• 1 tbsp vinegar

• good pinch of Cayenne pepper

• dash of Tabasco sauce

• freshly ground black pepper

Simply beat all the ingredients together – taste and add more Tabasco and pepper if you like. There’s no need to add salt.

For the livers:

• 6 chicken livers

• a decent knob of salted butter

• the devil sauce

• 3 or 4 tbsp double cream

• 1 slice of crisp toast per person

• chopped parsley

1. First of all, check the livers for any bitter green gall sacks, which are often accidentally left on. If you sport one, snip it off with scissors.

2. Get a frying really good and hot and melt the butter. As soon is stops foaming, add your livers. Try not to disturb them. After 2 minutes, turn them over and cook for one more minute. Next, add most of the devil sauce and fry a further minute, making sure the livers get coated in it. Add the cream and let form a lovely rich sauce, turning the livers over in it. Have your toast ready on plates so you can top it with the livers and then the sauce. Scatter over some parsley and serve immediately.