I had almost my first encounter with chicken liver (cooking it I mean) just a little while ago when I used this recipe to make a paté with cognac and porcini mushrooms. The only reason I didn’t post it on here is because I didn’t get a decent photo of it. But it was fabulous!
I am a huge fan of chicken livers since then. It is really tasty, and has less of a liver flavour than say pig’s livers or calf’s livers. On top of that it is very versatile to add different flavours to, and it is cheap.
Last week we had Chris and Jess over for dinner, and we had an Italian theme for the evening, with both food and wine. The most typical Italian starter to me is chicken liver crostini, so that’s what I made. This one is flavoured with white wine, sage and anchovies, very Italian flavours to me.
Since liver might not be for everyone I also made a bean spread (that I will post tomorrow) and classic bruschetta with tomato and garlic. We served the mousse and the bean paste in mini copper pans (my boyfriend’s idea) on a rustic cutting board and piles of crostini on the side. A nice and laid back start to the evening.
Italiensk kycklinglevermousse
400 g fresh chicken liver
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
100 ml dry white wine
4 anchovies
100 ml homemade chicken stock
50-100 ml mild olive oil
Remove all tendons and chop the liver coarsely. Fry the onion until soft in butter and oil on medium heat. Add the garlic and sage, make sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the wine and watch some of it disappear. Add the anchovies and let it melt together with the other ingredients. Turn up the heat and add the liver, cook until cooked through. Add the stock and let it bubble away a bit.
Mix it all in a food processor. Add mild olive oil bit by bit until it has the moussy texture you’re after. I used almost 100 ml, but start off with a lot less. Leave to cool, then refridgerate.
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