Pasta with Chicken Liver Sauce 1 lb. chicken livers
2 TB chopped shallots or yellow onion
3 TB olive oil
2TB butter
1/4 tsp chopped garlic (optional)
1/4 lb/ ground beef (optional)
1 tsp tomato paste dissolved in 1/4 cup vermouth
Clean the chicken livers of any green spots and particles of fat. Cut each into 3 or 4 pieces. Sauté the chopped shallots in oil and butter over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic, if desired. Right after add the ground beef, if you desire a thicker and weightier sauce. Cook until the red color is gone. Add salt and pepper and the chicken livers. Turn heat up. Cook until their raw color is gone. Add the tomato pasta and vermouth mixture. Cook about 8-10 minutes. Taste and correct for salt. Serve on top of the cooked pasta. Broad noodles, like fettucini, are good with this.
Tortellini Felice
For two people:
1 package chicken tortellini (9 oz.)
1 lb. (or less) chicken livers, cleaned and cut in half or quarters
10-12 brown (Crimini) mushrooms
tomato paste (I like the kind that comes in a tube)
vermouth
½ cup cream
In butter and olive oil, sauté the mushrooms, then the chicken livers. Do not overcook the livers.Dilute a heavy teaspoon of tomato paste in about 1/4 cup vermouth (or wine, or water) and add to the pan, scraping the bottom. Add enough heavy cream to make a generous sauce (about 1/2cup) and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste.
Based on a dish tasted July 1993 at Ristorante Felidia, 58th Street, NY. A subtle variation (and the way the restaurant served this) would purée the mushrooms and chicken livers in a food processor.Teddy: You can make do without almost everything but the chicken livers. I made this once with ketchup diluted in a little white wine, no mushrooms, and it was delicious.
Key West Tortellini Felice
Instead of mushrooms, use canned mango. Instead of vermouth, use white wine or leftover champagne. Instead of chicken tortellini, use cheese tortellini.
Chicken Livers and Gnocchi
1 lb. chicken livers
1 package (9oz.?) spinach gnocchi
1 small shallot, diced
6 leaves fresh sage (not essential but delicious)
unsalted butter
olive oil
tomato paste (easiest in a tube)
Balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly grated pepper
Prepare the chicken livers. Cut off gook. Cut in half. Ideally, the chicken livers should be equal in size and number to the gnocchi.Meanwhile, start a large pot of water to boil.
Heat 1TB butter and a little olive oil in a large skillet. Add the shallots and sage and brown slightly.
When the water is boiling, add salt and the gnocchi. Cook on the boil for five minutes. Test for doneness. Don't overcook.
Saute the chicken livers in the skillet with the shallots and sage, for about five minutes. Add salt and freshly grated pepper. DON'T OVERCOOK.
Dissolve a little (about ½ tsp tomato paste in a little water and add a couple of teaspoons or so of balsamic vinegar. Add a touch of sugar to taste. Add this to the livers and stir. Ideally the gnocchi and the livers should be done at the same time. Drain the gnocchi and add to the livers and their sauce. Stir to coat the gnocchi and mix everything up together. Serve immediately. It must be said that Laurent did not like this dish nearly as much as I did.
Chicken Livers and Gnocchi II
9 oz. package of gnocchi
container of chicken livers
1 shallot
1 TB butter
2 TB olive oil
heavy cream
sherry
rosemary
Clean the chicken livers and cut into smaller pieces, about the same size as the gnocchi.
Melt butter in saute pan. Add olive oil. Saute chopped shallots. Add chicken livers and cook until color is lost, about same time it will take to cook gnocchi in boiling water (about six minutes). Sprinkle with salt, fresh pepper, and rosemary. Add a little sherry and scrape up anything stuck to the pan. Add a little cream. Drain the gnocchi and add to chicken liver sauce. Stir for a moment or two. Serve, with grated cheese and black pepper.
Tropical Chicken Liver Pasta In olive oil, saute shallots, asparagus tips, and--very briefly--chicken livers. Season with salt, pepper, and crushed pepper flakes. Deglaze pan with cream or half-and-half. Just before serving, add the juice of one sour orange. Serve over linguini. The sour orange juice gives it a strange, light taste.