Riboflavin plus Italian Sauteed Chicken Liver Salad Recipe by Dana Carpender

Riboflavin

Here’s another in my off-and-on series about specific vitamins and minerals. Since I last covered vitamin B1, aka thiamin, the next logical subject is vitamin B2, called riboflavin.

Like all the B vitamins, riboflavin is water soluble. This means your body has no way to store it, which has a good and a bad side: On the one hand, it’s hard to overdose on the stuff, but on the other hand you need to get riboflavin every day. The RDA for riboflavin is 1.2 to 1.7 mgs. per day, but getting more is a fine idea.

What happens if you don’t get enough? Riboflavin deficiency is notorious for causing problems with the tissues of the mouth – cracks at the corners of the mouth, cracked, red lips, an inflamed tongue, even mouth ulcers. Nasty. You might also find your eyes tired, watery, bloodshot, and overly sensitive to light, and your skin dry and scaly. Clearly, riboflavin deficiency is hard on your looks! Not to mention uncomfortable.

But it gets more serious. Since riboflavin is needed for red blood cell formation, a deficiency can cause anemia. Riboflavin is also needed for antibody production, influencing your immune system, and for proper thyroid function, which has a huge effect on your metabolism, energy, and health in general.

Now that I’ve convinced you of the need for an ample supply of riboflavin in your diet, where can you get it? It’s no secret that I am unimpressed with low fat diets, and here we come upon one of my reasons: The best dietary sources of riboflavin include many foods we’ve been told to avoid or limit because of their fat content, including milk, cheese, eggs, nuts, and organ meats. Green leafy vegetables are also a good source, but then I trust you’re clear that eating your salad is an all-around good idea.

What about grains, which we’ve been told are a great source of B vitamins? I’m afraid a slice of whole wheat bread has only 0.06 mgs of riboflavin – less than half the riboflavin of a 3 ounce serving of flank steak, and about a third of that found in a single egg or one ounce of almonds.

It’s important to know that riboflavin deficiencies rarely happen alone; if you’re deficient in this vitamin, you’re probably deficient in several vitamins, especially Bs, and need to upgrade your diet seriously.

There are a few things that can destroy riboflavin in or out of the body. Light degrades it, which is a good reason to buy milk in opaque containers, and keep your greens in the dark of the fridge. Since riboflavin is water soluble, it can be lost by boiling foods and then pouring off the cooking water. If you’re pregnant, lactating, or taking birth control pills you’ll need more riboflavin. Excessive alcohol consumption can wash riboflavin, and other water soluble vitamins, out of your body. And as with most B vitamins, stress increases your need.

One of the very best sources of riboflavin (and just about everything else!) is liver. Chicken livers are one of those thing you either like or you don’t. I adore them. If you do, too, don’t fall prey to the common notion that liver is bad for you because it’s high in cholesterol. Despite repeated propaganda, there very little evidence that high blood cholesterol comes from eating cholesterol. (Personally, I’m also unconvinced that high blood cholesterol causes heart disease, but that’s another issue.)

What about that old caution about the liver being “the filter of the body?” It’s a bad metaphor. The liver is not like the oil filter in your car, catching gunk that then simply stays there, sludging the thing up. Rather, the liver is where toxins go to be processed and removed from the body, a task a healthy liver performs with remarkable efficiency. Yes, it makes some sense to buy liver from organically raised animals, but even conventionally-raised chicken liver offers so many vitamins that I think it’s well worth eating, especially since chickens are slaughtered at around 3 months – just not a lot of time for them to eat a ton of toxins.

This fabulous gourmet salad is quite possibly the most nutritious dish on the planet! It not only has 140% of your riboflavin, but tons of other vitamins and minerals as well.

Italian Sauteed Chicken Liver Salad with Warm Dressing

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 8 ounces chicken livers, cut in bite-sized pieces

• 3 cups bagged baby spinach

• 1 1/2 cups radicchio, torn

• 3 cups romaine lettuce, torn

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• salt and pepper, to taste

• 1/2 teaspoon ground sage

• 4 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

First assemble your greens in a big salad bowl and have them standing by.

Cut your chicken livers into bite-sized pieces, and dust with the sage. Give your big, heavy skillet a shot of non-stick cooking spray, and put it over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil and butter, and swirl them together as the butter melts. Add the chicken livers, and saute them till they’ve just turned color on the surface. Do not overcook! They should be pink in the middle. When the livers are done, remove them from the pan to a plate, and keep warm.

Add the balsamic vinegar to the pan, and stir it around, scraping up all the yummy brown bits. Pour this over the greens, and toss well. Now salt and pepper, and toss again. Pile the salad on two plates.

Top each serving with livers, and scatter the Parmesan over that, then serve.

2 Servings: 326 Calories; 20g Fat; 27g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 3g Fiber; 8g usable carbs. 140% of your riboflavin, plus lots of other vitamins!

(Recipe reprinted by permission from The Every Calorie Counts Cookbook by Dana Carpender, 2006, Fair Winds Press.)

© 2010 by Dana Carpender. Used by permission of the author. What do you think? Please send Dana your comments to Dana Carpender.