In Tuscany, if we have guests at a typical lunch /dinner, we start with an antipasto/appetizer consisting of crostini and salami, and ham.

If you want some information on the appetizer click here and on what are the crostini click here.

In the Tuscan tradition the starter that cannot be missed is the crostino Toscano: the chicken liver paté crostino. There are many recipes to realize it but we have been so lucky to get a superb one from a friend chef.

Ingredients:

2 chicken livers

40g =1 ½ oz.veal

10 capers

2 anchovies or 1 tbs anchovy  paste

1 medium onion

1 handful fresh parsley

Juice of ½ lemon

1/3 cup white wine

Bread

2 tbs.EVOO

Salt, pepper

Procedure:

Chop the onion and parsley roughly.

Pour 2 tbs. EVOO in a pan

Add the chopped onion and parsley

Add the chicken livers and the veal and cook them completely.

Add the white wine and stir.

Remove from heat

Then chop them up with the capers and anchovy paste. You can chop them in pieces bigger than coarse salt or in a blender to obtain a paste.

Add the lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper.

This cream is now ready to be spread on slices of bread.

Suggestion: Toast the slices of bread. Keep the cream warm. We use a container with a candle underneath because the liver has to be kept warm but it has not to be too hot otherwise it becomes bitter.