Crostini Neri al Vin Santo / Chicken liver crostini with Vin Santo

Serves 8 persons as a starter:

• 400 g of chicken livers (cleaned), chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• a small chilli pepper or a piece of a larger one
• some fresh marjoram
• grated zest of half a lemon 
• lemon juice from half a lemon
• 60 g of capers in salt (washed and soaked in cold water for a minimum of 1 hour)
• 100 ml of Vin Santo wine
• 200 ml of red wine
• olive oil
• salt
• toasted or grilled bred to serve

Heat up a few table spoons of olive oil in a pan. Add the chopped onion, carrot, celery stick and the chilli pepper (that should be discarded towards the end of cooking). Fry everything stirring occasionally and after a couple of minutes add the garlic and marjoram leaves. 

Once the onion turns translucent and soft add the chopped chicken livers. Fry everything for a few minutes until the chicken livers change their colour.

Now pour in the red wine, wait until it evaporates and then carry on cooking the chicken liver paste  on a low heat for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

If the mixture seems too dry, add a couple of tablespoons of a meat stock.

In the meantime drain the capers and chop them.

A few minutes towards the end of cooking pour in the Vin Santo wine to the chicken liver mixture and after that the lemon juice and add the lemon zest. Give it a stir and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Now stir in the chopped capers.

Taste and season with some salt and black pepper to your liking. 

Prepare the crostinini neri by spreading the chicken liver paste (at room temperature) over slices of toasted bread (that preferably has been soaked on one side in a meat stock) and drizzle with a little good olive oil.