Crostini with Chicken Livers (crostini neri)

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Original recipe from Flavors of Tuscany

kept byjanetlsanders
recipe by

Notes:

Crostini neri, or black crostini, always used to be spread with a rich dark mixture of mashed chicken livers and milza, or spleen. Today spleen is hard to find in Tuscany, and most cooks use all chicken livers. Crostini neri are an invariable part of the restaurant antipasto platter, but they are also served frequently at home as appetite whetters before a celebration meal or Sunday lunch. Since chicken is almost always a part of that meal, chicken livers are a natural, but thrifty housewives will add rabbit or duck livers, too, when they have them.
Makes: 1 ½ cups, 8-10 servings

Categories:
- Appetizer
- Flavors of Tuscany

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Ingredients:

¾ pound livers, either all chicken or mixed chicken, duck and rabbit
¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped
¼ cup dry vin santo, dry Amontillado sherry
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest or conserva di pomodoro
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed and chopped
6 to 8 slices country-style bread
A little broth or lightly salted water for dipping, if desired

Pick over the chicken livers, cutting away any greenish bits. Rinse under running water, pat dry with paper towels and set aside.

In a pan over medium-low heat, gently sauté the parsley, onion, and garlic in the oil until the vegetables are soft but not brown. Add the anchovies and cook, mashing them into the contents of the pan. When the anchovies are fully dissolved, add the livers and raise the heat to medium. Brown the livers, turning them frequently until they’re thoroughly brown on all sides but still rosy in the middle.

Add the vin santo or sherry to the pan, raise the heat again, and cook until the liquid is reduced to a syrupy consistency and the livers are cooked through. Taste and add salt and pepper, along with the grated lemon zest or conserva.

Add the wine or stock and continue cooking, mashing the livers with a fork as they cook, until the liquid has been absorbed. You should have a thick but rather liquid paste, which will get thicker as it cools. If the livers are not thoroughly mashed, put them through the coarse disk of a food mill or process very briefly in a food processor. They should have considerable texture, however and not be reduced to a puree. Stir the capers into the chicken livers. Taste again and adjust the seasoning.

Serve the chicken liver paste at room temperature. If you wish, briefly dip thin slices of country-style bread in broth or lightly salted water, then spread with the liver paste. Or toast the bread before spreading the liver paste.

Note: Salted anchovies, if available, are preferable to canned ones. To prepare, rinse thoroughly under running water to rid the anchovies of salt. The fillets strip away easily from the interior bones. Use the equivalent of 2 canned anchovy fillets, but do not salt the chicken liver paste until after the anchovy has been added, it can add considerable salt to the recipes.

Flavors of Tuscany

Nancy Harmon Jenkins