If we are the sum of our past experiences, then that might account for my continuing ambivalence towards liver. Most offal is tasty when well prepared, even those parts of an animal that one may not consider to be especially good and most of us consume offal on a regular basis, even if unknowingly through processed foods, meat pie anyone?

There is offal that I'm not particularly keen on, spleen for one, hearts and lungs another, though haggis which uses up the aforementioned hearts and lungs is something that gives me no qualms, it's all about how the offal is prepared. Most of us love at least one form of offal and that is pork crackling; other bits and pieces I like include tripe, black pudding, pigs trotters, tongue, brains and sweetbreads. Other parts that are less savoury unless well prepared are kidneys, giblets, hearts, testicles and spleen.

And liver.

My childhood was mostly a happy one with the exception of the two times my brother, sisters and I were forced to eat lambs fry after which the protestations were so sustained and severe that mum gave up on it. Lambs fry for those that don't know was a dish of lamb's liver, onions and bacon cooked together and in the hands of a sensitive cook was possibly a dish of great virtue, but in my mum's hands a thing of perdition. Through hard won experience I can authoritatively say that overcooked liver is completely inedible with a texture that rivals shoe leather.

To say these early encounters with this variety meat scarred me is something of an understatement, the childhood scene of us all at the dinner table whining and pleading is still vivid with me to this day, as are the ways we managed to avoid eating it with frequent trips to the loo to spit it out, and this has also subsequently informed my feelings towards this usually well regarded item. It was not the flavour that troubled me, as pate is something I've always enjoyed, it was the texture and those childhood memories that kept putting me off.

On the other hand, my wide D enjoys liver and in an effort to be a kind and loving husband, I have made efforts to come to terms with my childhood nemesis and there are some things I've learned along the way, with perhaps the most important being, that to me anyway, liver is best when sliced thin, no more than a few millimetres thick and very quickly cooked on a high heat until it's a uniform pink colour, similar to a medium done steak. Unfortunately for me in this regard, D has no truck with either meat or offal cooked to this degree of doneness, preferring, like my mum, to err on the side of well done, which is a place I'm not willing to go. So D has discovered that if she wishes to eat liver, she has to have it on the pink side or it simply won't be eaten by me, so both of us have had to make compromises.

The other day, D bought a tray of chicken livers for frying, which I noticed sitting in the fridge. I remembered a dish that Stefano de Pieri cooked in his series, A Gondola on the Murray, of chicken livers with sage served on pappardelle. I didn't have his recipe to hand, but the thought of a creamy sauce suddenly made the livers very enticing.

Chicken Livers with Sage
(serves 4)

500g chicken livers
flour
salt and fresh ground pepper
50g butter
20 leaves sage
1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
500mls beef stock
2 tablespoons sour cream or cream fraiche

Season the flour with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken livers in it. heat 25g butter until hot and quickly fry half the livers, don't overcrowd the pan. Turn when browned on one side and throw in half the sage leaves to fry. When the livers are done, remove to a warm place and fry the rest of the livers and sage leaves the same way. Add the rest of the butter to the pan, add the onions and gently fry until golden brown, don't skip this step and just fry until soft. Add the garlic, fry for two more minutes then add 2 tablespoons of leftover flour from the dredging and fry gently for another minute. Add the beef stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes until thickened. Add the sour cream and chicken livers and gently heat until the livers are warmed through, do not boil or the sour cream may split. Check the seasoning and serve on noodles or plain boiled potatoes.

Note: If you don't brown the onions properly the flavour will be less intense. You could use chicken stock instead of beef stock but again the flavour will be lighter, don't worry about the chicken livers, strong flavours suit them. Also it is a lot of sage, but when you fry it, the flavour isn't as strong as fresh. You could also use fresh cream, but the sour cream lends a pleasant tang to the dish.