Crostini

Tuscan chicken liver paste on bread toasted dry, not oiled.

Chicken, Fish. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, fish.

Ingredients

• 400 g chicken livers, trimmed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
• 100 ml vin santo or dry marsala
• 40 g butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 sprig sage
• 1 loaf of unsalted Tuscan-style bread, sliced thinly
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Soak the trimmed livers in cold water 30 minutes and dry them. This takes out the blood that otherwise turns the paste metallic.
2. Soften the onion in the oil with the sage, 10 minutes.
3. Add the livers and cook 5 minutes, until coloured outside and still pink within. Overcooked livers go grainy and no amount of butter will bring them back.
4. Add the vin santo and let it reduce away, then the anchovies and capers.
5. Chop it on a board to a coarse paste, or pulse it briefly. Beat the butter in off the heat.
6. TOAST THE BREAD DRY — no oil, no garlic. The bread is a plate here, and a bruschetta's oiled and rubbed slice would fight the liver.
7. Spread it while the paste is still warm and serve at once, before the bread softens.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes