Abruzzo Recipes!
Crostini with chicken liver (Crostini ai fegatini di pollo) This recipe comes from the mountainous areas of Abruzzo. Liver of all kinds provided much needed energy and nutrition to sheepherders and farmers, especially during cold winters. This is a delicious recipe. (what might be considered a “rustic paté”)
Crostini with chicken liver
Crostini can be obtained by slicing a loaf of crusty Italian bread and drying it out in a warm oven (200° F) for an hour, making sure it doesn’t get too brown.
Recipe for 4 (2 crostini each):
- 8 Crostini (see above)
- 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Small onion
- 1 Stalk of celery
- A handful of parsley (flat leaf is best, but curly will do)
- 1 Thick slice of parma ham (prosciutto), cut into cubes (or a few thin slices chopped up)
- ½ Lb. chicken livers (the smaller the better; free-range tastes more authentic)
- 3 Tbsp. dry bread crumbs
- Juice of ½ a lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
While the slices of crusty Italian bread are in a warm oven drying out:
Finely chop the onion, the parsley, and the celery. Warm up the olive oil and sauté the chopped mixture on medium-low heat for about 4 minutes, until the onion begins to soften. Do not let the onion brown. If it starts browning, your heat is too high. Add the cut up parma ham and the chicken livers. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and sauté them briefly, just to lightly brown the liver. Before the livers are fully cooked through, remove them from the pan using a slotted spoon and set them aside to cool a bit. Remove the pan from the heat. By this time your crostini may be done. Remove them from the oven and “dip” one side of each slice of bread into the pan where you were cooking the livers. Set the crostini on a platter, dipped side up. (if one prefers to skip this step, it is not entirely essential – it simply adds more flavour to the bread) Chop the livers finely when they are cooled a bit. Put them back in your sauté pan and turn on the heat. Finish cooking the livers for just a few minutes. Remove pan from heat and mix in bread crumbs and lemon juice. Spread this warm mixture onto your crostini and serve.
