Crostini di fegatini di pollo - Toasted bread with chicken liver paste

Ingredients:

500 g of stale bread, toasted, cut into slices and moistened in the broth; 300 g of chicken livers, stripped of the whitish filaments and gall bladders, washed and dried; half a litre of broth; one small red onion, chopped finely; a heaped spoonful of pickled capers, well squieezed and chopped; one filleted anchovy (optional); half a cup of dry Vinsanto (or white wine); 3 spoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil; salt; pepper.

Preparation time:

15' in addition to the 10' for making up the crostini - Cooking time: 30'

Directions:

Sauté the onion in the oil put in the livers and half cook them, adding the Vinsanto little by little and stirring regularly. Remove from the heat, chop finely and complete the cooking, bathing in the broth. Add the capers and, as desired, the anchovy; salt, pepper and blend well. Spread this cream onto the dry side of the bread and serve the crostini hot or cold.

Notes:

There are many variations of this classic reecipe, not all of them universally accepted. The initial fry mixture may include leeks and celery or shallots or all the odori, sometimes with the addition of a sponful of tomato sauce and perhaps a little butter or ham fat; instead of Vinsanto some use white wine or even Marsala; and, if to the capers a couple of fillets of well desalted anchovy are often added, there are those who prefer to replace them with dried mushrooms soaked in water and then chopped finely.

*Odori: the herbs and vegetables (carrots, onions and celery, but also garlic and parsley) used for the soffritto (the sauté).

You can find this and other recipes in the book:
Maria Salemi, Florence - City gourmet guide, Nardini Editore
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