TABELIA

AUTHENTIC RECIPE

Crostini con Fegatini di PolloChicken Liver Crostini

Chicken Liver Crostini
Difficulty★★☆☆☆ Prep6 min Cook20 min servings2

Traditional Tuscan crostini with chicken livers sautéed and simmered with wine, sage and capers, mashed into a paste and spread on baguette. Their hallmark is a complex interplay of bitterness and savory depth.

Recipe developed and reviewed by the Tabelia Editorial TeamUpdated
100/ 100

AUTHENTICITY SCORE

Authenticity Score

This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.

Ingredients (2 servings)

  • Chicken liversRemove the gallbladders completely and soak in cold water for 30 minutes to draw out blood.250 g
  • OnionFinely chopped.1 piece
  • CapersDrained.20 g
  • Fresh sage5 leaves
  • White wine80 ml
  • Butter30 g
  • Baguette slicesSlice 1 cm thick and toast.12 slices
  • Salta little
  • Black peppera little

Method

135 min

Soak the chicken livers

  • 1 Remove the gallbladders, the green sacs, from the chicken livers and soak in cold water for 30 minutes to draw out blood.
  • 2 Drain and cut into bite-sized pieces.
25 min

Sauté the onion until golden

  • 1 Melt the butter in a frying pan and sauté the finely chopped onion over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes.
33 min

Brown the livers

  • 1 Drain the capers.
  • 2 Add the chicken livers and sage and sauté over high heat for 2–3 minutes to brown the surfaces.
410 min

Simmer with white wine

  • 1 Add the white wine and cook off the alcohol, then add the capers and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
53 min

Finish the liver paste

  • 1 Season with salt and black pepper.

Ready when

Once the initial heat has dissipated, roughly mash with a fork into a paste; a texture that is not too smooth is preferable.

65 min

Assemble the crostini

  • 1 Cut the baguette into 1 cm slices and toast, then top generously with liver paste and serve.
A view of Firenze
FirenzeItaly Photo: Rhododendrites · CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized; display cropped)

About this dish

Tuscan crostini neri, black crostini, are among the oldest appetizers on Florentine tables. Carefully cleaned chicken livers, with bitterness reduced, are sautéed and simmered with white wine, capers and sage. Their deep, iron-rich savor combines intricately with the capers’ saltiness and acidity, finding completion on simple bread.

In Florence the preparation is so established that crostini alone can mean this chicken liver paste. Together with street food made from beef spleen, lampredotto, it supports the city’s offal-cooking culture. Completely removing the gallbladders, the green sacs, during preparation is the key to a result without bitterness.

Chef Authen

Bring the full course home next weekend.

Bring every dish to the table at its best.

Choose the dishes you want to cook, and Chef Authen handles the shopping list and the day-of schedule. The Tabelia app turns everything from starter to main into one coordinated course in your kitchen.

  • One shopping listBuilt automatically from your menu and any substitutions, ready to check off.
  • One timelineEvery dish’s waiting and cooking time combined into a single schedule.
  • Answers beyond the recipeFrom judging the heat to adapting on the fly, Chef Authen answers with concrete criteria, not guesses.
Download on the App Store