Crostini di fegatini (Tuscan Chicken Liver Crostini)
Ingredients
- 500 g 1 lb chicken livers
- 1-2 cloves of garlic peeled and slight crushed
- A few fresh sage leaves
- Olive oil plus a knob of butter
- 7 juniper berries
- Broth preferably homemade
- 4 anchovy fillets rinsed and roughly chopped
- 1 Tb capers rinsed and roughly chopped
For serving:
- Day old crusty bread, thinly sliced (see Notes)
Instructions
- Sauté the garlic and sage leaves gently in the oil and butter until the garlic is just beginning to brown. Add the chicken livers and sauté for 10 minutes or so. Then add a pinch of salt and pepper, along with the juniper berries, slightly crushed with the back of a knife or in a mortar and pestle. Turn and add a ladleful of broth. Let things simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Off heat, drain the chicken livers in a colander, saving the liquid and removing the garlic and sage leaves. In a food processor, chop the livers until you have a roughish paste—don't overdo it—and then scrape the liver paste back into the skillet, along with the reserved liquid. Thin out the paste with another ladleful of the broth, and simmer gently until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Just before it's done, mix the chopped anchovies and capers and simmer for a minute or two more, until the anchovy has melted completely into the paste. Taste for seasoning and remove from the heat. Let the liver paste cool for a few minutes.
- Serve the liver paste on slices of bread, toasted or not as you prefer. You can serve Chicken Liver Crostini warm or at room temperature. The liver paste can be made ahead and, if you like, gently reheated with a bit of broth or butter; in fact, many say it's tastier that way.
Notes
The traditional bread for crostini is, of course, Tuscan bread. If your local bakery or market doesn't carry Tuscan bread, then a good homemade bread will do very well—if you want it to emulate the Tuscan variety, leave out the salt. You can also opt for any bread with a good crust and firm crumb. Personally, although not traditional, I like to use a good quality baguette, which makes for a smaller crostini that are easy to handle and perfect for a cocktail party. The bread can be toasted or not, as you prefer, although for much of the bread you can buy these days, toasting is a good idea, as it firms up the crumb. I also like the extra layer of flavor it adds. For a really rich version, Bugialli says that frying the bread slices in olive oil "works very well".