Black Sheep Brewery Liver and Bacon
Bring the potatoes to boil and simmer for around 25- 30 minutes. When cooked the potatoes should start to break up, so check by using a fork. Drain the potatoes in a colander and turn back into the pan and dry out over a little heat, to take off any excess water. In a small pan or microwaveable dish, put the butter and a drop of milk or cream, then heat and melt together and add this to the potatoes. Season and mash the potatoes. You can add some chopped fresh sage or parsley at this point. To make the gravy, which can be made in advance, put the beef/lamb bones in a baking tray with the vegetables all chopped up and smother in the tomato paste/purée. Roast in the oven at 200ºC for around 45 minutes until the bones are brown and tomato paste caramelised. Drain any fat off the bones and put in to a heavy and deep pan or casserole dish with the vegetables, two bottles of Black Sheep ale or Riggwelter, a pint of water and a table spoon of garlic purée. Bring to a boil on high heat and skim off any impurities, then turn down heat and simmer for around two hours until its reduced by half. Then thicken with a little corn starch and pass through a sieve into a jug and leave to one side. Dispose of the bones and vegetables and wash the pan. Return to medium heat and add a few drops of sunflower oil or rape seed oil with two thinly sliced onions, moving them around until caramelised. Drain off any oil and then add the gravy and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and a couple or dashes of Worcestershire or Yorkshire sauce, if you wish to add a kick. Pan fry the liver to your required taste and finish with a couple rashers of crisp baked streaky bacon/pancetta. Alternatively, the bacon/pancetta can be baked for 15 minutes in a hot oven until crispy, then left to go cold and blended to a crumb and sprinkled over the liver after cooking it. Serve with the mashed potatoes and gravy.