Erica De Mane

Still Life with Radishes and Pâté, by Leon Bonvin, 1864.

Recipe below: Tuscan Chicken Liver Pâté

I assume that most of my readers love chicken livers, because I do. They’re excellent with pasta  or over a bitter greens salad. The classic Tuscan chicken liver pâté is one of my favorite dishes of all time. I latched on to it early in my cooking career, finding the recipe in Giuliano Bugialli’s The Fine Art of Italian Cooking. His version includes a good amount of juniper berries and sage, in addition to capers and anchovies. I made it his way a few times, and then I started playing around.

The capers and anchovies were keepers, but I’ve never liked sage when its leaves get all ground up, as they did in that pâté, creating an overall mustiness or sourness. That was the only taste that held me back from loving the pâté completely. However, I took care of the problem early on, by replacing the sage with a mix of rosemary and thyme, yielding, to my palate, a warmer taste. And recently I’m liking a touch of allspice and lemon zest, too, as you’ll see in my new recipe.

It’s traditional to serve this on thin slices of toasted country bread, brushed first with good olive oil. That’s what I still do. A pickled vegetable or fresh radishes make a perfect accompaniment.  You can garnish the crostini with sprigs of rosemary if you like. And wine, you’ve got to have wine with this rich pâté. A Tuscan vernaccia di San Gimignano will balance out all these flavors nicely.

Not my photo, but of my old recipe in Food & Wine.

Tuscan Chicken Liver Pâté

(Serves 6 as an antipasto)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot
2 juniper berries, lightly crushed
3 oil-packed anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
A small palmful of salt-packed capers, soaked and drained
A few thyme sprigs, the leaves chopped
A large sprig of rosemary, the leaves chopped
½ teaspoon ground allspice
The grated zest from 1 lemon
A splash of dry vermouth
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ pound chicken livers, trimmed and cut into approximately 1-inch pieces
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
A splash of cognac, brandy, or grappa

In a medium-size skillet, heat the olive oil over medium flame. Add the shallot, juniper berries, anchovy, capers, thyme, rosemary, allspice, and lemon zest. Sauté until everything is fragrant and the shallot is soft, about 2 minutes. Add the vermouth, and let it bubble for a few seconds, leaving some liquid in the pan.

In another medium skillet, heat the butter over high flame. When it’s hot and bubbling, add the livers, seasoning them with salt and black pepper, and sauté them briefly on both sides, leaving them just a touch pink in the middle. That should take about 2 minutes. Pour on the cognac, and let it flame up (fun, but watch your eyelashes).  Transfer the livers and their cooking juices into the bowl of a food processor. Scrape the shallot mixture out of the other pan with a rubber spatula, and put it in the food processor as well, making sure to include all the cooking juices. Add a little salt and black pepper and a drizzle of fresh olive oil, and pulse until the pâté is fairly smooth (or you can leave it a little chunkier, if you prefer).

Scrape the pâté into a ceramic crock or a glass pâté jar, smoothing out the top. Cover the container, and stick it in the fridge for about an hour to help it firm up. Bring it to room temperature before serving.