When you've had a busy day, you're a bit tired and don't want to spend time or the effort of going to a restaurant, what can you make for just yourself or you and your partner, that's quick and easy? One old family recipe handed down for over 150 years lists this dish as a favorite back in the 1860's, and its still a good one today — and liver of any kind is rich in iron and the B vitamins.

A few simple touches bring it into the 21st century, and the process of preparing a juicy calf liver is quite simple, it can make a delicious meal for one or you can double the recipe for two people, it requires no special tools and it's not super expensive either, just last week I purchased three slices of calves liver from Citysuper for HK$90 — enough for two people.

Remove the liver slices from the wrapping paper and cut off any membrane — look around the edges for that. Place the slices flat down in a deep plate with just enough cold milk to cover, leave in a cool place.

In the meantime, saute 1 slice of bacon in oil until crisp and set aside. In the same pan with 1 ozs of butter and 1 Tbsp oil added, saute 6 button mushroom, 3 finely chopped cloves of garlic, 1 sliced baby zucchini, and 2 ears of baby corn, you can also add 1 tomato halved in two if desired. Remove each vegetable as it is cooked, setting aside with the bacon to keep warm.

Now remove the liver from the milk and dip it (both sides) into fine flour into which you've mixed 1/4 tspn salt. Shake off the excess flour and quickly saute the liver in the frying pan you used to fry the vegetables. Plate up and keep warm. Now quickly add 1 glass of brandy or white wine to the pan juices, allow to flame and add 2 ozs of thick cream, swirl to mix well and pour over the liver. Serve with toast points if you like. For a slightly more intense flavour add a paper-thin square of (toasted for 10 seconds) Japanese Nori seaweed to the dish at the last minute.

A good accompaniment to this dish if you want to make it again and have the inclination and the time, is to add caramelized onions. You will need to start with the onions as they take around 40-45 minutes to caramelise. When you cook onions slowly for a time, the natural sugars in the onions caramelise, adding a rich, intense and wonderful flavor. For each person you will need 1 purple onion and 1 yellow onion peeled and thinly sliced, 2 tbsp olive oil. Saute them very slowly for 35 minutes and check the taste. Cook some more if they have not caramelised enough. When they are ready, add a splash of balsamic vinegar, quickly stirring the onions around in the pan and serve on top of the sautéed calves liver (prepared as above).

An alternative recipe calls for apple, onions and calves liver. if you are keeping to the above methods of preparation for the liver and onions, use rice flour instead of wheat flour to coat the liver slices and use Granny Smith or Gala apples. Wash, peel and core the apples, cutting into rings approximately 1/4 inch thick or less. Cook in 1 ozs of salt-free butter for around 3 minutes each side until they soften and brown slightly. Plate up to your taste, I like to put the onions first, then the liver on top with the sauce and add the sliced apples on top of that — or to the side. You can also add a shake of freshly ground red peppercorns, the very best come from Madagascar with a small production coming from Kerala in India, they are rare but I have found them in top delis. Failing that you can add freshly ground black pepper.